Spider-Gwen: Partner In Crime Fighting
by a0040pc
Summary: The fourth Spider-Gwen story written by myself. Spider-Woman finds that she has a superpowered fan who wishes to help her fight crime. Is she genuine or another threat?
1. Chapter 1

Despite it only being a week since Gwen Stacy had almost been killed by an alternate version of her former best friend and had mutated into a woman/spider hybrid. For most people, they would consider taking some time off but for her it wasn't an option. Just because she stopped doesn't mean crime had, there were still thugs out there causing a lot of hassle for normal people.

In Gwen's mind if she had stopped she would be breaking the promise that she had made to Peter Parker before he had died. She had used her spider like powers for her own gain but now she used them to help others and she had done many things that she thought that she would never do. She had travelled to different dimensions, fought alongside different versions of her former best friend, been enlarged to around fifteen feet in height and with everything that had happened last week she had experienced more than anyone could ever expect.

On this day Gwen Stacy was in her Spider-Woman costume and standing on clinging to the side of a building. Thanks to her powers she was able to stick to the side of the building with ease. For the moment she had lifted up her mask a little so that her mouth could be seen. This was only so that she could eat the tasty burger that she had been chomping down on for the last couple of minutes.

She had been patrolling for a couple of hours without much incident. She thought that it was going to be a boring but she suddenly began to hear the tell-tale sound of police sirens. This normally meant that something was going down and when she looked towards the ground she could see a car speeding by with around three police cars in hot pursuit behind it. It looked to be a standard car chase but it would mean that she would lose her burger.

Spider-Woman gave a sigh as she webbed the burger on the side of the building and lowered her mask and swung down towards the car. This wasn't her first car chase, nor her second nor even the tenth. She was experienced in them and she knew that she needed to take out the driver and then web up the car. It was something that she had done numerous times and she considered herself an expert in the art.

One thing that Spider-Woman did notice was that the car was travelling at a faster pace than she had expected. This one seemed to be going at the speed of a racing car which didn't think was safe on the streets of New York. She knew that she needed to end it fast before anyone got seriously hurt.

The police cars behind were finding it very difficult to keep up and if the pursuit continued on like this they would likely call it off purely for the safety of everyone around them. Spider-Woman for the moment was keep up but she was having difficulties, each time she tried to jump on top of the car it would just about slip away from her and she would find herself numerous metres behind it again.

This was very annoying for Spider-Woman as she almost fell onto the ground. Even though she had superhuman endurance a fall at that speed would most likely lead to some kind of injury. She could see that there were three men inside of the car and two of them were shooting at her. Thanks to her spider sense she was able to dodge each bullet with some ease, if one of them struck it would be the end of her pursuit.

Inside the car the driver was doing everything that he could to try and get away from his pursuers. He had been practicing for this kind of thing for a while now but even he was panicking a little. He knew that one small mistake would most likely lead to some kind of horrible accident.

"She's still on our tail," said the Thug on the backseat. "I thought that you said that you could outrun her."

"Hey if you want to take over from me then be my guest," replied the Driver. "If not shut your trap and keep shooting." He was constantly overtaking cars and even dodging a couple of pedestrians.

Suddenly he saw what seemed to be a giant foot come down right in front of him. It was clothed in a blue boot and the driver just about drove around it but he began to lose control of the car. Despite his best efforts he couldn't regain control and it looked like it was going to crash at any moment.

Spider-Woman saw what was happening she was just able to catch up to the car. She used her webbing to safely stop it by creating a large web that the car got itself stuck in. It almost seemed like a fly in a spider web. Thankfully no one was hurt but the crooks were incapacitated. The police soon caught up and they began to procedure of arresting the men responsible.

Spider-Woman knew better than to stay around so she quickly swung away landed on top of a relatively small building close by. She did want to grab her burger but she needed a moment to clear her thoughts. She was sure that she had seen a giant boot come down and almost block the getaway car. However the giant boot was all that she had really seen and she had expected to see a giant person attached to the boot. Instead she had seen nothing which made things very odd. She did consider that there was someone who had the power to turn into a giant boot but she thought that this was plain silly. However she had been told that there was one superhero in an alternate reality like her own with the ability of super hindsight. If that was possible she thought that any super power was possible.

Suddenly Spider-Woman heard something from behind her, she quickly turned around but this time her spider sense had not gone off. When she did turn around she found herself looking over the edge of the building and she could see a young woman there with a huge smile on her face.

The woman looked to be Pakistani in origin with long black hair. She wore a blue domino mask with a red and blue dress like top. She did wear appropriate red bottoms with her costume but for the moment Spider-Woman couldn't see her boots. She also seemed to be wearing a large gold bracelet on her right arm. At first it seemed like she was flying but when Spider-Woman looked down from the building she could see that the young woman's legs had been elongated to the point that they touched the ground. They were easily fifty feet above the ground which amazed her and in a manner of speaking also scared her a little.

At first Spider-Woman had thought that she was some kind of threat but thanks since her spider sense had not gone off she knew that the young woman didn't mean her any harm. She looked at her for a few moments and she could still see that the young woman had a huge smile on her face.

"I can't believe that I'm finally meeting you face to face," said the Young Woman. She raised her hand towards Spider-Woman as she wanted to give her a hand shake. "Oh sorry, where are my manners? I'm Ms Marvel." Spider-Woman was still speechless but she did shake her hand. "And you're Spider-Woman."

"Y-Yes I am," replied Spider-Woman. She took a deep breath. "Sorry but I'm still trying to wrap my head around all of this. Who exactly are you?"

"Like I said I'm Ms Marvel." She began to climb onto the roof. As she did her near fifty-foot-long legs began to retract. By the time she had successfully climbed onto the roof and standing in front of Spider-Woman she was a few inches shorter than her. Only now could her boots be seen and they were blue. "I'm a superhero just like you, well a trainee super hero. To tell you the truth this is actually my first day on the job and I'm still getting used to it all."

"You want to be a superhero?" This was still all she could get out as she was still confused. If she had time to properly process all the information she would gain a better understanding. But for now, she was in a grey area.

"Sure, I've seen you saving people's lives and since I have these powers I decided to follow your footsteps, I know that a lot of people think that you're a monster but I know the truth. You're a hero."

"Thanks, I guess." She wasn't sure exactly how to react to this. She was used to people hating her and calling her a menace but actually having someone who was a fan was actually a breath of fresh air. It did help that her fan did seem to have her own superpowers. "You should have been more careful, I saw how you literally put your foot down in front of that car. It could have killed the people inside."

"I know and I'm sorry." Her bubbly attitude seemed to melt away as she seemed to be worried. "I'm still learning but you can teach me, can't you? You've been at this game a lot longer than me. I promise that you won't be disappointed."

"I don't know, this is all happening really fast." She paused for a moment as she tried to wrap her head around everything. She could see that Ms Marvel was very eager to help but she couldn't help but feel suspicious. Betrayal was something that she was getting used to but she felt that it wasn't fair to write Ms Marvel off straight away. "I'll think about it but before we go any further I need to know what you can do."

"Oh sure, let me show you." Ms Marvel seemed to become happy again and tried to think of exactly where to start. She thought for a couple of moments before she began to stretch her body. Spider-Woman took a step back and watched as Ms Marvel stretched much like she was being pulled by an invisible hand. She also saw as her hands and feet expanded until they were many times their original size. "I have the ability to stretch my body and change the size of any body part that I want." She began to revert back to normal but when she reached her normal height she kept shrinking. Within seconds she was only a few inches tall and looking up at the seemingly giant Spider-Woman. "I can use these powers to shrink myself like this or…" She began to grow and within a few moments she went from being a few inches taller to being just over fifteen feet. As Spider-Woman looked up she couldn't help but think about when she was stuck at that size. "I can grow in size as well, this isn't my maximum but I didn't want to go through the roof."

"Very impressive, now you wouldn't mind shrinking yourself down would you? I'm getting a neck strain."

"Sure thing." She smiled and quickly shrank herself down. It only took a couple of seconds for her to return to her normal size. "Pretty cool don't you think? I also heal pretty fast but obviously I can't show you that."

"I bet you can." Spider-Woman began to think that Ms Marvel might be connected to Doctor Janet Van Dyne. She was the scientific marvel who had created Van Dyne particles that allowed people and objects to change size. After seeing Ms Marvel's abilities she couldn't help but think that Van Dyne Particles were somehow linked to her. "I'll you what, I'll meet you here this time tomorrow so that I can tell you my decision. As you can imagine I need time to think about this."

"That's cool, I understand." She could sense that Ms Marvel was a little disappointed but it wasn't a shattering blow. "Please consider it, I won't let you down." With that she began to walk towards the edge of the building. She began to stretch her legs once again until they were long enough to reach the ground below. "See you tomorrow Spider-Woman, I hope that you make the right decision."

Ms Marvel began to walk away and Spider-Woman watched for a moment. She thought it was funny seeing someone walking like Ms Marvel. Her legs were incredibly long but her body remained the same. It almost looked like something from a cartoon. Then again quite a lot of people thought that she was like some kind of cartoon character.

When Ms Marvel was out of sight Spider-Woman shot a line of webbing from her web shooters and began to swing away. She wasn't going to be swinging around aimlessly either as she was travelling in a particular direction.

Many different thoughts were going through Spider-Woman's mind as she swung from one web line to another. She thought that Ms Marvel's eagerness to become a hero was quite refreshing and with her powerset she would be a very effective crime fighter. However there was some suspicion that she was feeling that she couldn't shake off. After everything that had happened with the alternate Peter Parker and the fact that she had recently transformed into a woman-spider hybrid she needed time to think.

There was one person who could help her out in this situation and she was going to visit her right now. This was Doctor Van Dyne who could hopefully give her some more information on Ms Marvel. If her powers were linked to Van Dyne Particles there was a good chance that Doctor Van Dyne would be able to give her some more information.

There was one thing standing between Spider-Woman and Doctor Van Dyne and that was the Avengers. She knew that many of them did think that she was some kind of supervillain who was bent on world domination. She would find it funny but if she was captured and her identity revealed as Gwen Stacy, everyone she loved would be in danger and she couldn't allow it to happen.

Within minutes Spider-Woman found herself a short distance away from the Avengers Mansion. She knew better than try to go through the front door and she did consider sneaking in. She suspected that some of the other Avengers had not liked the fact that she had been able to sneak by their security. She thought that security most likely had been improved and it would be difficult to get by them all. She wished that there was some way for her to contact Doctor Van Dyne without having to sneak through the security.

Suddenly her spider sense began to tingle and she looked around. She couldn't spot anything at first that seemed to indicate danger but she knew better than to dismiss her spider sense. The first strike came from behind but thanks to her spider sense she leapt over the strike and landed on her feet several feet behind. For the first time, she was able to see her attacker.

Her attacker was what looked to be a man who was completely covered in a robotic suit. She could see no human part on him and he was flying thanks to some thrusters that were located in the bottom of his feet. There was a somewhat triangular shape on his chest that was glowing. She couldn't help but think that he looked a lot like Iron Man. She knew that he would be difficult to defeat and she wanted to try and end the fight before things went out of control.

"Hey take it easy, I don't want to fight," said Spider-Woman. She held her hands up in the air. She knew how intelligent the man in the armour was and she thought that this would show him that she wasn't a threat.

"Threat evaluation," replied Iron Man. His voice sounded very robotic, this made her feel that she wasn't actually speaking to a person but instead a machine. "Target identified, beginning termination program."

"Oh crap!"

She was only able to leap out of the way at the very last moment as Iron Man fired at her. She realised now that she was going to have to fight in order to survive. She also thought that she was fighting a machine rather an actual man. She did try to web up Iron Man which with her speed and agility only took a few seconds.

Iron Man found himself wrapped up in webbing and he couldn't move. This only lasted a few short moments as he was able to blast himself free and fired another pulsar ray from his hand at Spider-Woman. Her reflexes were the only things that saved her as she dived out of the way. She quickly moved towards him and landed a powerful blow right to his chest. She saw as he staggered back a little but she could feel pain in her hand.

A lot like a cartoon character she could feel her hand throbbing and she began to blow on it in an attempt to subdue the pain. She knew that Iron Man was made out of something that was strong but she hadn't expected it to be that strong. She looked up and could see that Iron Man easily recovered from the blow and was floating above her. She was ready to fight again but she didn't think that she would last that much longer. She did have one secret weapon on her person but she still didn't want to use it here. She thought that this was a simple misunderstanding.

Before Spider-Woman could do anything else she noticed what seemed to be a tiny person flying in front of her. She had insect like wings but the rest of her body looked human. She recognised her instantly as Doctor Janet Van Dyne and she couldn't help but feel relieved. She watched as the tiny woman grew rapidly until she was back to her normal size. Iron Man seemed to stop his attack and stare at her for a couple of moments.

"Iron Sentinel Number Four Six Seven Three shut down order ROBC Nineteen," said Doctor Van Dyne. Almost immediately Iron Man began to lower to the ground and power down. Within moments he was completely shut down and Spider-Woman could see that he wasn't the true Iron Man but instead a robot. She watched as Doctor Van Dyne turned to her and had a somewhat annoyed look on her face. "Why are you here this time? You're not turning into a giant spider again are you?"

"No, thankfully nothing like that," replied Spider-Woman who was grateful for what Doctor Van Dyne had done. She did feel a little embarrassed about the whole situation. "I just wanted to talk to you about something. I am allowed to speak in your lab aren't I? Or am I going to have my head blown off?"

"Fine but you better make it fast, I have a lecture in an hour and it is one that I really can't miss."

A couple of minutes later Spider-Woman found herself in Doctor Van Dyne's lab. This was the first time that she was inside without sneaking in. She didn't spot any of the other Avengers who were currently dealing with a threat on the other side of the world. This meant that the mansion was empty besides the two women. This was a relief for Spider-Woman although she didn't like the idea of fighting another one of Iron Man's so-called Iron Sentinels again.

At least for Spider-Woman she didn't have to worry about mutating this time and she saw that Doctor Van Dyne was working on some kind of device. It was very large and in pieces on a work desk. She wasn't even going to attempt to figure out what it was and she thought that it was best not to ask.

"So tell me why you're here," said Doctor Van Dyne with the slightest hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Ok I'll it quick," replied Spider-Woman. "Earlier I ran into a superheroine who had similar powers to you. She could change her size and stretch her body, she called herself Ms Marvel and I was wondering if you had any idea who she is. I thought her powers might be fuelled by Van Dyne Particles and since you own practically all the Van Dyne Particles in the world. Well you know where I'm going with this."

"I wish I could help but to tell you the truth I have no idea who this Ms Marvel is but what you've told me has intrigued me. As far as I know there haven't been any unauthorised uses of my Van Dyne Particles since that incident we had a while back. Other than that no one else besides myself have used Van Dyne Particles. That means that this superheroine's abilities are either don't originate from them or someone has been able to replicate them. The latter is very troubling for me, if someone else has been able to reverse engineer my Van Dyne Particles then we could be in big trouble." She seemed genuinely worried about this, if it were true then it meant that someone could use them to make things bigger or smaller. When she invented them she ensured that they had a cap so that something couldn't shrink to microscopic size or grow until they reached the clouds. If someone else had indeed reverse engineered them there was a good chance that they hadn't added these safety caps onto them. "Listen to me very carefully Spider-Woman I need you to do me a very important task. Find out everything you can about this Ms Marvel and report back to me as soon as possible. If her powers are linked to Van Dyne Particles I need to know who created them and where they are. Can you do that?"

"Sure but that might be a little difficult, if she's anything like me I wouldn't give that information away. I am meeting her up again tomorrow, maybe you can see her yourself then."

"No, it's best that I'm not there. If anything sinister is taking place my appearance will only aggravate the situation. That is of course if what I've feared has occurred but if it hasn't then we don't have anything to worry about."

Spider-Woman could see that Doctor Van Dyne was very serious about all of this. From how she had met Ms Marvel she couldn't sense any kind of danger or malice from her. Her spider sense would have alerted her to any danger immediately. If someone had replicated Van Dyne Particles then it was important to prevent them from going onto the black market, The last thing that she wanted was to be fighting fifty foot criminals or being shrunk until she was the size of a literal spider.

After everything was said and done Spider-Woman left the mansion but not without being given a small device that she could use to report back to Doctor Van Dyne. It did make her feel like she was a secret agent but the truth was that she hoped that their fears weren't correct.


	2. Chapter 2: Acceptance

A few hours later Spider-Woman found herself as regular Gwen Stacy again as she practiced with her band the Mary Janes. They were trying to work out some of the sounds for new songs that they were writing. One in particular was a softer song which meant that Gwen's contribution would be minimal since it would have a simple drum beat. There was one particular song that was heavier which meant that she needed to play the drums quite quickly. It would have been difficult for a normal person but with her spider powers it was quite easy.

Gwen did somewhat wish that she had her additional four arms since it would make her a drummer unlike any the world had ever seen. Unfortunately, it would have made the rest of her life difficult so she was glad that they were gone. She also remembered not to strike the drums too hard, her strength was many times that of a normal person and she could accidentally smash the drum.

Even though she was practicing Gwen couldn't help but think about Ms Marvel. It was nice to know that she had a fan since most people who met her automatically assumed that she was some kind of monster. She would find it annoying just how many times people had called her a menace, even those that she had saved.

"Hey Earth to Gwen!" shouted a voice. This made her snap back into reality and she looked up from her drums to see Mary Jane Watson standing there. The redhead was the leader of the band and she seemed to have an annoyed look on her face. "What song were you playing Gwen?"

"Err the Rocks of the Pacific?" replied Gwen who from the expression on Mary Jane's face looked to be the wrong answer.

"No we were performing the Rocks of the Pacific, you were doing Hotel Beats. God can't you remember what our songs are?"

"Of course, I can." She chuckled for a moment as she was a little embarrassed. "It's just hard to keep track of them sometimes."

"Just pay attention and try to do it right." She grunted with annoyance and if she could she would have kicked Gwen out of the band some time ago. Unfortunately for her Gwen was one of the best drummers around and finding a worthy replacement would be extremely difficult.

The other members of the band gave a sigh. They were both a little annoyed about Gwen playing the wrong song but they knew that Mary Jane could be very bossy at times. There was no doubt who was in charge of the band. It was Mary Jane's leadership that was driving the band forward from being just a high school band to potentially getting their own record deal.

For the next hour the practice went smoothly as they performed a couple of their songs over and over again. Each time they played they would quickly assess how the performance had gone. They would decide if any parts of the song needed changing of if any of the band members were offkey.

Not too long afterwards the practice did end and for the moment the bandmembers went their separate ways. Gwen found herself walking back home with a backpack on which only contained her drumsticks and a half-eaten sandwich. It was around then that she remembered the sandwich she had been eating when the car chase had taken place. She knew that the webbing that had kept it to the side of the building had no dissolved and likely would have landed on someone's head.

Gwen found herself in what seemed to be a shady alleyway and she couldn't help but feel nervous. She knew that her spider sense would allow her to detect any danger that might come her way. But it still didn't mean that she could leave her guard down, bad things tended to happen when she did that.

She remained as calm as she could but suddenly she felt her spider sense beginning to tingle. When she turned around she saw what seemed to be a man standing there with a knife in his hand. He was a fairly young man, probably only a couple of years older than her and he had a look in his face that screamed addict to her. He was shaking the knife a little as if he were nervous.

"Give me your bag," demanded the Man. There was a small amount of desperation in his voice. Gwen did raise her hands up in the air, she preferred to end this without hurting him if it was possible.

"All that's in there is a half-eaten sandwich and some drumsticks," replied Gwen. She hoped that this would be enough to make him leave but she wasn't foolish enough to truly believe this. "Nothing that you'll find of any value."

"Then give me your phone. Kids like you have phones!" His desperation seemed to be increasing and it his temptation to stab her also increased.

"You're not taking my phone, the best thing that you can do right now is put your knife away and go back home. Also for your information I'm not a child, I'm a full-grown woman."

"Give me your phone, I'm not going to ask you again." He didn't get the response that he wanted as he heard her give a sigh.

"Look I know that you probably need the money for drugs or whatever you're addicted to but this isn't the right way. You need help but robbing people at knifepoint isn't the answer. In fact, I'm pretty sure that it's illegal."

The man didn't respond as he thrust the knife towards Gwen. He expected it to be driven into her chest quite easily. Unfortunately for him Gwen's powers kicked in as her spider sense made the world seem to slow down around her. This allowed her to easily dodge the knife and she responded with a strong push to the chest for the man.

The attack sent the man flying into a wall not far away. The impact was strong enough to knock him out but not cause can serious injuries. Gwen had not enjoyed what she had done as she had felt some sympathy towards him. It didn't mean that he was allowed to try and stab her in the chest.

Rather than taking him to a nearby police station or webbing him up Gwen just left him as he was. She just hoped that he would take her advice and find help, she knew how addiction could take over a person's life. She couldn't help but think about an older cousin of hers who at one point had a bright career ahead of her. Then she began to take drugs and everything that she had worked for had gone down the drain as her addiction completely took over her life.

Gwen walked away and eventually reached her home. As she expected her father Captain George Stacy was at work. It meant that she had the house to herself and she took a few minutes to have a much-needed shower. She felt quite dirty and the shower was exactly what she needed. The water would always feel a little odd on her skin since she had gotten her powers. Her skin was more sensitive than the norm but it didn't really affect her life in any dramatic way.

When Gwen was done she began to dry herself off and she looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. She looked at her hair which was shoulder length, on her trips to other realities she knew that most alternate versions of her had longer hair. She consider growing her hair so that it would be more like her alternate selves. However she ultimately decided to keep it like it was.

Gwen remembered when she had longer hair when she was younger. She had loved the story of Rapunzel and she wanted to grow her hair until it reached the ground. As she grew older she realised that maintaining such long hair was difficult and in the end she had decided to cut it to its current length.

She hoped that she wouldn't have to deal with anything that she felt was crazy. In a short space of time she had travelled to different dimensions, enlarged, almost killed by an alternate version of her former best friend and had mutated into a woman/spider hybrid. As a superheroine she wanted to do normal superheroine stuff such as stopping bank robberies or facing off against a low-level supervillain. The kind of crazy shenanigans that she had been dealing with was enough to give her a headache.

The next day Gwen became Spider-Woman again as she was dealing with a bank robbery, something that she felt was well within her talents. The bank robber was not a run of the mill thug unfortunately. This was being carried out by a man who was wearing a hi-tech suit. It covered his entire body besides his face. The suit also allowed him to extend his legs and he was going by the name Stilt-Man.

In comparison to the other superpowered villains that Spider-Woman had fought against in her short career she thought this one was the most ridiculous. When she first saw him she thought that he was a genuine threat but when she saw what he could do it took her entire willpower not to laugh at him. Stilt-Man seemed very confident that he would be victorious and actually escape with the money.

Stilt-Man was running down the street with Spider-Woman chasing not far behind. He had extended his mechanical legs and was travelling at some speed but nothing that was too fast for Spider-Woman. He would sometimes turn his head and see the superheroine getting closer and closer to her.

"Leave me alone this instant," said Stilt-Man in what he considered to be an intimidating voice. "Unless you want me to hurt you." He thought that he was intimidating enough for Spider-Woman to back away. Instead all it did was make her chuckle which annoyed him more than she realised.

"Yeah like I'm afraid of you," replied Spider-Woman. "I've seen more intimidating villains on a Saturday Morning Cartoon." She was not far away from him and she considered webbing him up.

"Bah your words only hide the true fear that you're experiencing right now." He had turned his head to look at Spider-Woman and wasn't looking at where he was going. This was a recipe for disaster.

In an alleyway not too far away Ms Marvel was standing there as she prepared for what she was going to do next. She did feel a little nervous but if she wanted to convince Spider-Woman that she could be her partner. She had seen on the news that Stilt-Man was robbing a bank and that he was running in this direction.

Quickly Ms Marvel began to elongate her own legs. She knew that she could use her powers to do other things but she wanted to show Stilt-Man that her ability to elongate her legs were more powerful than his. She didn't fully realise that his ability was through technology while her own was a superpower.

When she was done Ms Marvel was roughly forty feet tall with the vast majority of her height being in her legs. She took a deep breath before stepping out of the alleyway and expecting to fight against Stilt-Man. She had been preparing for this for some time and she felt that she was ready.

Ms Marvel saw Stilt-Man who wasn't too far away, however he hadn't noticed her as his attention was fully on Spider-Woman. He was so focused that he didn't notice a parked car that was in his path. One of his mechanical feet struck the car and he felt himself falling down.

Everything happened so fast that Stilt-Man couldn't react. The bags of money that were in his hands went flying into the air as he fell. It was a long way down for him but he was saved from serious injury by Spider-Woman who began to web him up. Rather than just stopping his fall she made sure that he was completely webbed up so that he couldn't move at all. By the time he landed safely on the ground it looked as if he was wrapped in a cocoon of webbing.

In vein Stilt-Man attempted to break free but he didn't have the strength to do so. He looked up as Spider-Woman looked down at him. She could hear the sirens approaching and she knew better than to stay around. With everything that had happened she failed to notice Ms Marvel standing some distance away in what she called her Embiggened stated. Quickly she reverted to normal and retreated back into one of the alleyways.

Ms Marvel began to think that Spider-Woman might not need any assistance in her crime fighting adventures. She was sure that Spider-Woman would have needed help against Stilt-Man but the fact that she easily defeated him showed Ms Marvel that her heroine was more capable than she thought.

For a few moments she even considered not meeting Spider-Woman again as she felt that there wasn't anything that she could do to make their partnership worthwhile. It took all of her willpower to decide that she would still meet up with Spider-Woman. She gave a small sigh as she began to make her way to the meeting point. It had been practically twenty-four hours since they had last met and she thought that Spider-Woman was also making her way there.

Truth was that Spider-Woman was indeed on her way to the meeting point. The words of Doctor Van Dyne still rung in her ears as she knew that she needed to find out how Ms Marvel gained her powers. She considered that it might have been due to a freak accident or maybe she intended to gain superpowers. It wouldn't be the first time that someone intentionally gave themselves superpowers. She couldn't help but think about her Peter Parker and the monster that he had become. It always brought a tear to her eye but she remained focused on trying to discover Ms Marvel's origin.

One thing that she did consider was that Ms Marvel might have been born with these abilities. She had heard about a group of people that the media called mutants who were born with their powers. So far she hadn't met a mutant but she did consider that Ms Marvel might be one. She had learned that there were many mutants in the multiverse so having some in her own dimension wasn't too farfetched.

The only other possibility in her mind was that Ms Marvel's powers were linked to Van Dyne Particles and that would only raise even more questions. In her mind it was the most likely answer since most of Ms Marvel's abilities could be replicated through Van Dyne Particles.

Within a couple of minutes Spider-Woman landed on the rooftop where she had met Ms Marvel the previous day. She was surprised to see that the young superheroine hadn't arrived yet. She was sure that someone as eager as her would have been there hours before the correct time.

Spider-Woman didn't have to wait too long before she saw Ms Marvel approaching building. Like Stilt-Man before she had elongated her legs so that she could walk and run great differences in just a few strides. It was also safer for the people below in comparison to increasing her entire body to giant size. She just walked towards the building and as she stepped onto it she retracted her legs until she was back down to normal. This was not her true normal self as she was using her powers to make herself a little taller and more athletic looking than her normal appearance.

"I see that you've arrived," said Spider-Woman. She crossed her arms. "To tell you the truth I thought that you'd be here a little earlier."

"Thank you for waiting," replied Ms Marvel. She did seem to have a disappointed look on her face. She wished that she could see Spider-Woman's expression but her mask made this impossible. "I'm sorry that I'm late but I had something that I had to deal with before I could come here."

"Don't worry about it." She cleared her throat before she continued to speak. "I have been thinking about what you've said. Although I've done quite well punching bad guys by myself but I must admit that some help would make the world of difference. I don't mind partnering up with you and I know that you won't mind being my partner."

"Do you mean it?" She didn't allow Spider-Woman to answer as she quickly hugged her hero and even lifted her off her feet a little. "Thank you thank you. I promise that I'll live up to your expectations."

"I'm sure that you will." She noticed that Ms Marvel had stretched her arms so that it completely wrapped her body. It was almost like Spider-Woman had been wrapped up by a couple of snakes. "It would be nice if I could move right now."

"What?" She realised what she had done and quickly retracted her arms until they were down to their original length. "I'm sorry, I can get a little carried away sometimes." She gave an awkward smile before she could feel her excitement growing again. "So what are we going to do first? Go on patrol maybe? Why don't you web swing and I follow close behind?"

"Actually about that I thought that you walking around like something out of a Roald Dahl book might not be the most subtle way of moving around. Why don't you shrink yourself down and I'll carry you?"

"Err sure, I guess." She began to concentrate and Spider-Woman saw Ms Marvel beginning to shrink. Within seconds she went from being a few inches over five feet tall down to being small enough to fit in someone's hand. Spider-Woman did squat down and place her hand on the ground. Ms Marvel didn't waste any time in stepping onto it and she was lifted up to the level of her heroine. "Is this small enough? If you need me to be I can shrink even smaller than this."

"No this is fine for now." She did chuckle for a moment. "You know it wasn't too long ago that I found myself at your size."

"Was that before or after you were enlarged until you were around fifteen feet tall?" Spider-Woman fell silent for a few moments as she couldn't believe that Ms Marvel knew about that.

"H-How did you know about that?" There was a small amount of confusion in her voice as she spoke.

"I remember when you fought against Doctor DeMara a while back. In the pictures you looked bigger than and I just guessed that you were fifteen feet tall give or take a couple of feet. I'm guessing that the reason for your change in size is Van Dyne Particles? It would explain why Doctor Van Dyne was there not too long afterwards."

"Wow you're really observant aren't you?" She couldn't help but feel impressed by the tiny superheroine in her hand. She did wonder just what else Ms Marvel might know about her. Instead of asking she placed Ms Marvel on her shoulder and looked at her for a moment. "Will you be alright on there?"

"Yeah." She watched as Ms Marvel expanded her hands and grabbed onto Spider-Woman's shoulder. "I'll be fine."

Spider-Woman didn't say another word as she fired a web line that attached to a taller building that wasn't too far away. She did what she normally did and began to swing away, the sensation of it all was a little more than Ms Marvel had expected and she had to take a tighter grip on her heroine.

For the next several minutes Spider-Woman swung from one web line to another and she looked down at the world below as she tried to spot any kind of crime that was taking place. After Stilt-Man's bank robbery there wasn't much else going on. Spider-Woman thought that now was a good time to try and get some information from her new partner in crime fighting. She still had to find out a lot about her powers and for the moment going the direct route seemed like the best option.

"So how exactly did you get your powers anyway?" asked Spider-Woman as she continued to swing. She took a glance at the tiny superheroine with large hands on her shoulder. "It wasn't cosmic rays was it?"

"Nah I wish, but to tell you the truth I don't know exactly how I gained my powers," replied Ms Marvel. "I know that sound so odd but it's true, one day I'm just a normal person and then the next I have these freaky powers. I still remember when I made a hole in the ceiling of my room."

"Hmm interesting." Spider-Woman wasn't entirely satisfied with the answer that she had heard. She did find it odd that Ms Marvel could have gained powers like this but for the moment she wasn't going to push the matter any further. There was something else that she wanted to know that she felt would be important to their crime fighting efforts. "Have you discovered if you have any limits?"

"Well before I put on the costume I did practice. I can shrink myself down to around an inch tall and grow to around a hundred feet. When it comes to stretching I can stretch almost as long as I want but my powers are increasing. When I first gained my powers I could only grow up to nine feet, now I'm hitting that limit out of the ballpark."

"That's good to know, so now if I need you to be one hundred and one feet tall I know that I've gotta ask someone else." This made Ms Marvel chuckle for a moment and Spider-Woman did feel a little happier. She was used to doing all of this by herself but having someone to share it with made the whole thing a little more enjoyable.

"So my question to you now, if you don't mind me asking what exactly happened between you and Peter Parker. Most people say that you murdered him but I know that it isn't true, you're a hero."

"I-It's complicated." She gave a sigh as she didn't like to be reminded about what had happened on that fateful day. "Peter Parker wasn't someone I killed, he was my best friend and if I could have I would have prevented his death. Unfortunately life doesn't give us what we want." She glanced down at the ground and she noticed something that peaked her interest. "Hey Ms Marvel I think that we have our first crook of our partnership down there." She pointed down and when Ms Marvel looked down she could see a couple of men holding guns against a man in an alleyway. "Ok, follow my lead and we'll be fine."

"Sure thing boss."

With that Spider-Woman began to drop down towards the ground. She knew that this could be a particularly dangerous situation thanks to the fact that both of the men were armed. However she thought that it was something that both superheroines would be able to deal with. It would also be a good way for her to see how Ms Marvel could handle a situation such as this.


	3. Chapter 3: A Sudden Surprise

As both of the superheroines looked down they could see what looked to be a couple of women trying to break through a door that led into the back of a jewellery store. There was quite a lot of security at the front but they had figured that there wasn't too much in the back. They planned to sneak in, steal as much jewellery as they could carry and then run. It was likely they were going to be spotted but the swiftness of their attack made them think that they could get away.

Carefully Spider-Woman landed down on the ground just behind the women. Ms Marvel leapt off of her shoulder and quickly expanded herself until she was normal height. She didn't shrink her hands in proportion to her body so they still seemed gigantic and it showed that she was ready to fight.

"Excuse me," said Spider-Woman which made the two women turn around quickly. They were very surprised to see the two superheroines standing behind them. They had hoped that they would be quick enough to avoid any kind of confrontation but their fears had more or less been realised. "But I think that you're supposed to enter the store from the front. That is of course if you're doing something that you shouldn't."

"So you better give up peacefully or else we're going to have to get rough," replied Ms Marvel as she lifted up her giant fists. "And believe me you don't want that to happen." She smiled a little as she looked to be ready for a fight.

In panic one of the women pulled out a gun and fired it at Ms Marvel. It had happened so quickly that she didn't have a chance to dodge. The bullet struck her square in the chest and took her off of her feet. She fell to the ground and Spider-Woman thought that she was seriously hurt.

Rather than focusing on the two women Spider-Woman quickly went to the aid of Ms Marvel. Almost instantly she felt guilty about what had happened and she couldn't believe what had happened. She refused to let someone die again trying to emulate her superhero antics.

"Ms Marvel are you alright?" asked Spider-Woman. She tried to hide just how concerned she was but the truth was that she was in such panic that she wasn't able to do this very convincingly.

"Y-Yeah I'll be fine," replied Ms Marvel. "There's a bullet in my chest but I'll heal, another benefit of my powers." Her voice did sound a little weaker than normal which didn't help Spider-Woman's current anxiety. "Go get them before they escape."

Spider-Woman looked at where the two women had been and saw that they had disappeared. Unfortunately, they had gone into a very large crowd that was nearby and escaped. She found this to be annoying but she just helped Ms Marvel back to her feet and she had noticed that she was looking a little shorter than before and her fists had also shrunk back to their original size.

"Sorry Marv but they got away," said Spider-Woman. "Can you shrink yourself down at all?"

"No," replied Ms Marvel. "When my body is healing from a wound like this it takes all my power to do this. My body automatically reverts to normal and I can't use any of my powers until it's fully healed."

"That's a bit of a bummer. You're lucky that I have my spider strength, lifting you isn't going to be a problem."

Quickly she fired a web line and swung away with Ms Marvel over her shoulder. Her heart was still beating very quickly as she felt that she had almost lost someone else who only wanted to be a heroine like her. She couldn't help but think about Peter Parker and the monster that he had become. At least it seemed like Ms Marvel's powers were protecting her life-threatening injuries. This was a welcome relief and she didn't consider that a situation that seemed so trivial could go so deadly.

Ms Marvel seemed to be a little limp but other than that she was fine, she couldn't move her body that much as all of her energy was on healing her body. She was like this the entire journey until she touched down on a roof thanks to Spider-Woman. She sat down on the ground as Spider-Woman looked down at her, she had been worried about her but now she was beginning to calm down a little.

"How are you getting on there?" asked Spider-Woman. She knew that Ms Marvel was fine she still couldn't help but worry.

"Not too bad," replied Ms Marvel. She never liked it when her body became like this, she felt it was one weakness to her abilities. "I should be one hundred percent again in the next few minutes."

"You shouldn't worry me like that." She gave a sigh as she took a few moments to assess the situation. "So if your body wanted to heal from like a scrapped knee you'd end up like this?"

"No, minor injuries don't take much energy so I can still use my powers. Major injuries like this take more time and energy."

"Can you regrow a limb?"

"I'm not sure but it is something that I really haven't wanted to test." She was about to say something else but she felt something in her throat. She tried to gulp it down but instead it continued to push up. She thought that she was going to throw up but she could taste that whatever was in her throat was metallic. It wasn't until a moment later when she felt it in her mouth. Quickly she spat it out and both she and Spider-Woman heard something made out of metal striking the ground. When they looked down they could see that it was the bullet that had been in Ms Marvel's chest.

"Ok that was disgusting."

"Well the bullet wasn't going to stay in there." She seemed a little annoyed by what had just happened. "So my body decided to force it out of my mouth rather than the wound." She stood back up to her feet as she felt her body becoming re-energised. She definitely felt much better than she had a few moments ago. "So what's next on our patrol? Maybe we should go down Wall Street, there are plenty of crooks there." She giggled to herself as she hoped that Spider-Woman would get the joke.

"I'm not sure, this whole business with you getting shot is giving second thoughts." Under normal circumstances she would have called off their partnership merely because she feared for Ms Marvel's safety. However she still needed to figure out if her powers were linked to Van Dyne Particles and she thought that she still needed to keep an eye on her. "I don't want you getting hurt."

"Don't worry, you just saw, any injury I get I can heal. I promise that I'll be more careful in future." She was really hoping that this wouldn't be the end of their partnership as she was finally living her dream.

"Fine but one more screw up like that and I'll have no choice but to end our duo." This was made against her better judgement but she still had a mission to complete. "You have to be more careful in the future. That bullet landed in your chest but what if it was your head? You could be dead right now."

"I would still most likely heal, you worry too much." She thought that if her head was taken off completely then she might not be able to heal but this was another theory that she didn't want to experiment with. "Besides." She increased her size until she stood at eight feet tall, this caused Spider-Woman to look up although she knew that it wasn't a threat thanks to her spider sense. "I'm a big girl, I can deal with whatever comes my way."

"Famous last words, can you please shrink yourself before I get a neck strain looking up at you?"

With that Ms Marvel did begin to shrink. It only took her a few seconds to reach her normal height. However she didn't stop shrinking and a few seconds later she was only a few inches tall once again. Spider-Woman picked her up and looked at her for a few moments, she still couldn't believe that Ms Marvel had gone from being more than three feet taller than her all the way down to mere inches.

Carefully Ms Marvel was picked up and placed on Spider-Woman's shoulder once again. Spider-Woman wasn't exactly sure what she wanted to do right now. One thing that she did consider was taking her to Doctor Van Dyne. At least then they could fully understand Ms Marvel's powers. For the moment Spider-Woman didn't want to go down that path as she didn't think that Ms Marvel was any kind of threat.

The pair did swing away from the building and like before Ms Marvel had expanded her hands so that she had a better grip of Spider-Woman's shoulder. She also had a grip on her hood as well which made her feel extra secure.

"So what are we doing next?" asked Ms Marvel. There was a small amount of excitement in her voice. "Can we go and beat up some bad guys, or maybe save people from a burning building."

"Ok two things with that, the first is that you never go out looking for a fight. Only bad things happen when you do that and the second is that I truly hope that there isn't a burning building. You can try your best but it is very likely that you can't save everyone. Plus it can be very dangerous inside a building, rubble could fall on you at any point and you won't be able to breathe."

"Wow." She wasn't expecting such a reaction from Spider-Woman but she could understand what she was saying. "I guess that I still have a lot to learn about being a superhero."

"Indeed you do, the kind of patrol that you want is one where nothing happens, at least then you know people are safe and you didn't face any danger. Also assess a situation before you engage. It's the best way that you can know what you're facing. Of course sometimes that isn't possible where you have to act quickly."

"Like if someone was being beaten up by a group of thugs?"

"Yeah something like that. If they have super powers it might make things more complicated. Nowadays you don't know who exactly has superpowers. Could be a thug who is using his fingers as a gun or a little old granny who just wants to walk across the street. You might never know but they might have a superpower that would defeat you in every conceivable way."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's simple really, I've figured that for every superpower in the world someone else possesses a different power that would defeat them completely. Let's just say if you had a guy who couldn't be physically hurt and could move a mountain he would seem unstoppable. However if they came up against a telepath they wouldn't stand a chance. The guy would be all powerful but the telepath could attack a part of his body that he couldn't protect. Same goes with us, I have the powers of a spider but if I went up against someone with the powers of a giant rolled up newspaper then I would be screwed." This caused Ms Marvel to giggle as she got the joke. She also understood the information that she had just been given. But it did leave one big question.

"So if I did go up against someone who could take me down like that should I just give up, there has to be something."

"Indeed there is, there are some situations where it isn't your powers that you have to rely on but on your own mind and regular talents. There have been times when my spider powers haven't helped. They do come few and far between but every hero has to deal with that at some point in their career. It'll most likely happen to me at some point in the near future and to you as well."

"Ok, I'll try and remember that." She realised that she still had a lot to learn but Spider-Woman was the perfect person to teach her. Even though she was still learning how to be a superheroine herself.

Spider-Woman continued to swing through the air and a fairly quick pace. Once or twice she would glance over to Ms Marvel who was still hanging on confidently. They did seem to be connecting pretty well but there didn't seem to be much that the newer superheroine could do except sit there. She gave a small sigh and she hoped that something would happen which would allow her to show how capable she was.

Spider-Woman did notice something below that she thought would be ideal for Ms Marvel. She could see a young child standing next to a tree, the child was crying and she could see what the problem was. She perched herself on top of a building nearby and gently grabbed onto Ms Marvel. Ms Marvel didn't resist and when she was in Spider-Woman's hand she shrank her own hands so that they were in proportion with the rest of her body. Now she looked much like a living doll.

"So what do I need to do now?" asked Ms Marvel who thought that she was going to be fighting more criminals.

"Look over there," replied Spider-Woman. She pointed towards the tree and where the little girl was standing and crying. "That little girl over there has got a cat stuck in the tree, I want you to go over there and rescue it."

"That's it? I thought that you were going to ask me to beat the snot out of some more bad guys." There was a hint of disappointment in her voice and Spider-Woman knew that she had to dispel it.

"Sometimes it's the little things that a superhero does that can make the world of difference. That little girl over there needs your help right now and who are we to say no to that?" She saw Ms Marvel look over to the girl and then back at her.

"Ok I'll do it." There didn't seem to be any reluctance in her voice as she seemed like she genuinely wanted to help.

Spider-Woman placed her hand on the ground and allowed Ms Marvel to step off it. No sooner had she done this she grew back up to her normal size. She continued to walk forwards and when she reached the edge of the building she began to extend her legs until she could easily touch the ground below. She considered going to the girl like this but she realised that this would most likely scare her so she retracted her legs so that she was normal once again.

Carefully Ms Marvel walked over to the little girl who for the moment didn't seem to notice her approach. She just stood there crying and it wasn't until she cleared her throat that the little girl looked up at Ms Marvel. The superheroine in turn squatted down until she was at the same level as the little girl.

"Hey there," said Ms Marvel. She remembered to appear very unthreatening so that she didn't accidentally scare the girl that she intended to help. "I couldn't help but notice that you were very upset so please tell me, what's the matter?"

"M-My cat Totoro is stuck in the tree and I can't get him down," replied the Little Girl. "I've tried everything and he simply won't come down."

"Then do you mind if I try?" She stood up and looked at the brown cat that was in the tree. She took a deep breath and then began to elongate her arms until they were easily long enough to reach the cat that was high above. The girl watched in amazement and Ms Marvel carefully grabbed the cat. She then began to retract her arms and lower the cat down towards the little girl. Within seconds the cat was back in the girl's arms and all seemed to be well. "Ok there you go, now you better hold onto that little pussy cat so that he doesn't go climbing trees again."

"Thank you Miss."

"Oh it's not Miss, it's Ms, Ms Marvel." She stood there triumphantly as if she had just taken down a powerful villain rather than simply taking a cat out of a tree. "Farewell young lady and be careful."

Ms Marvel extended her legs and then began to walk away from the scene. The Little girl watched her for a few moments before she moved away so that she could return home. Spider-Woman who seemed to be quite pleased by what had happened. She was glad to see that she some of her training was rubbing off. She thought that if Ms Marvel kept it up she would become a fully competent superheroine before long. She still remembered what she had to do but she tried to keep this in the back of her mind.

Within a couple of seconds Ms Marvel arrived back to Spider-Woman. Like before she retracted her legs but rather than going back down to normal she did keep them longer than they were supposed to be. It made her roughly a foot taller than Spider-Woman who needed to look up at the towering Ms Marvel.

"That was great," said Ms Marvel with some joy in her voice. "That little girl was just the cutest little thing."

"Yeah helping children can be especially rewarding," replied Spider-Woman. She considered asking her to shrink down a little but she decided that she could stay this size for a few more minutes. "Like I mentioned being a hero isn't always about beating up bad guys or stopping some world shattering event. Sometimes it can just be about helping people in their time of need."

"I understand, I still remember seeing you giving directions to some tourists before I gained my powers." She was about to continue talking but she heard a beeping sound. It was coming from her phone that was in her pocket. Quickly she took it out and took a look at it and she was surprised by what she could see. She looked at Spider-Woman for a moment and then gave a nervous smile. "I'm sorry but I really have to go, can we do this again this time tomorrow?"

"Y-Yeah sure." She recognised the situation at hand as she had gone through several times herself. She could see that Ms Marvel had to be somewhere else mainly due to her real life. "We'll meet here tomorrow and six in the evening. You still have plenty of training that you need to complete."

"Sure Spider-Woman." She made her way to the edge of the building and she quickly extended her legs until they were extremely long again and touching the ground below. "I appreciate everything that you've done for me today, hopefully tomorrow will be just as productive."

Ms Marvel waved at her before she began to run. Spider-Woman still found it a little funny seeing a woman with such long legs running. She was still curious with how Ms Marvel had gotten her powers but before she had left Spider-Woman had been able to plant a tiny tracker onto her. She knew how important it was to find out if Ms Marvel's powers were linked to Van Dyne Particles.

The worst thing that could happen was that Van Dyne Particles were available on the black market and more or less anyone could get their hands on it. She didn't want to think what would happen if some of her enemies were able to obtain them. They could use them to enlarge themselves or shrink her until she disappeared. Both ideas made her shudder but she remained calm.

Spider-Woman did feel a little guilty placing the tracker onto Ms Marvel but she knew that it was something that was necessary. Under her costume she had a small device on her wrist that acted like a locator. Doctor Van Dyne had given this to her and she was putting into good use.

She allowed Ms Marvel to gain a small head start before she began following her. She also decided to remain high above the ground so it was harder for her to spot. It didn't take long to find Ms Marvel either as she still had her extended legs which she was using to move quickly through the streets. She was even surprised with how fast she was moving and she had to pick up her own pace just to keep up.

Eventually Ms Marvel stopped in an alleyway somewhere in Queens and retracted her legs down to normal. Spider-Woman landed on the side of a building nearby and watched what was going on. She didn't make a sound and she focused her superheroine below. She saw her quickly change into her normal clothing which included a t-shirt based on a TV show that Spider-Woman was a little familiar with along with some jeans and some sneakers to go along with them.

When Ms Marvel stepped out of the alleyway she didn't look like a superheroine but instead just a normal person who was going about their business. Spider-Woman didn't find this odd in the slightest but she did notice that Ms Marvel had shrunk her costume in order to place it in her pocket. She then began to walk away and eventually went towards a bus that had just approached a stop.

Ms Marvel got onto the bus and took her seat. No sooner had she done this the bus began to pull away and Spider-Woman knew that she would have to follow it as well although she wasn't sure exactly how far she was going to have to travel. For the sake of finding out the truth behind Ms Marvel's powers she decided to continue her pursuit.

The bus travelled for several miles, it was further than Spider-Woman had expected and eventually they even went out of New York City. The bus continued to travel south until it arrived in New Jersey. This wasn't the first time that she had been there since the Mary Janes had performed once or twice here.

For the reputation that the state had she did find it to be an enjoyable place to visit. Despite her memories she continued to follow the bus. If she knew that it was going to be travelling this far she might have reconsidered. However her thoughts were interrupted when she saw Ms Marvel step off a bus in a small neighbourhood. She quickly made her way towards a house that was close by and went inside.

This was when Spider-Woman touched down on the ground and looked at the house for a few moments. There didn't seem to be anything special about it and she did consider that it was just a normal house. She did quietly make her way towards the house and she kept herself low.

When she came up to a window Spider-Woman took a peek inside and she saw a middle-aged couple sitting on a sofa and a chair. From what she could see they were Pakistani-Americans, before she could really get a good look at them she noticed Ms Marvel entering the room, what happened next really did shock her.


	4. Chapter 4: Down Time

As Spider-Woman continued to look through the window she could see the normal looking Ms Marvel interacting with her parents. At first it all looked fine as she wasn't arguing with her parents but instead just having a normal conversation. She did notice Ms Marvel leave the room and then return a couple of minutes later with a lightbulb in her hand. There was a light on the ceiling in the room and she watched as Ms Marvel extended her arms so that she could reach it. She unscrewed the lightbulb from the light and replaced it with the one that she had just brought in.

Spider-Woman had expected Ms Marvel to be subtle about this but she had used her powers right in front of her parents. Rather than being panicked by what they saw they seemed to react like it was completely normal. Her mother even hugged her after the job was done and this caused Spider-Woman to duck down.

Many different thoughts were running through her head. It seemed like Ms Marvel's parents knew about her powers and accepted her for it. That felt somewhat odd to her as she remembered when she was trying to hide her spider powers from her own father. She thought that most kids would hide their powers from their parents but it seemed like this hadn't been the case here. She only told her father about her powers when he almost shot her as he was trying to apprehend her. At that time, he didn't know that Gwen Stacy and Spider-Woman were one in the same.

Spider-Woman did wonder whether Ms Marvel's parents were the ones who gave her the powers or if she had just come clean to them after she had them. For now she had found everything that she had and decided that it was best to return to New York before everyone missed Spider-Woman. She gave a small giggle to this joke in her head but she knew that she needed a little time to fully comprehend what she had seen.

Just before she went to leave the area Spider-Woman decided to check her web fluid and as she feared it was low, too low for her to be able to make it back to Queens and she gave an annoyed grunt. She did consider taking a bus or a taxi but money was something that she didn't have too much of right now.

After around half an hour Spider-Woman did find herself on the way back to Queens on the bus. Rather than being inside with everyone else she was riding the top of it. She didn't stand up and instead hugged her body to the roof so she was hard to see. She still couldn't believe that she had come this far out. She did wonder if any of the crooks realised that she was gone. If that were to happen she thought that it might be pandemonium.

As she continued to ride the top of the bus Spider-Woman did hear what seemed to be a familiar sound. She could also feel something vibrating and quickly she realised that someone was calling her. She quickly took her phone out of her pocket but she accidentally took out her emergency Van Dyne Particles before realising her mistake. The second attempt was more successful as she took her phone out of her pocket and placed it by her ear which was still covered by her mask.

"Hello," said Spider-Woman as she answered her phone a fraction of a second before it was going to go to voice mail.

"Hi Gwen it's Liz," replied a female voice on the other side of the phone. She recognised it as her friend Liz Allen.

"Hey Liz what's up?" She sounded friendly and she was trying to hide the fact that she was on top of a bus.

"Nothing much, I just wanted to see if you wanted to go to the mall tomorrow? They've just opened a new big and tall women's clothes store there."

"Sounds great Liz, you don't mind if we go to a couple of other clothes stores as well? I can never find anything in those stores that fit me." This was a joke between them as Spider-Woman was average height while Liz was over six feet tall. "Is that a deal?"

"Sure, I'm sure that those stores will have a hat that'll fit me."

The two women continued to talk for a couple more minutes before the call eventually ended. Spider-Woman gave a sigh and she continued to cling onto the roof of the bus. She gave out a yawn and she realised that she was tired. After everything that had happened today she really didn't want to fall asleep on top of the bus. It was a good way for her to fall off and injure herself.

Thankfully Spider-Woman was able to stay awake long enough for the bus to arrive in Queens. She was glad to be home but it was night time by the time she returned. Everything inside of Spider-Woman's head was telling her that she should return home and go to bed. However she knew just how much crime took place at night and she still felt that she owed it to Peter to continue with this task.

Despite her fatigue Spider-Woman spent the next several hours fighting what crime she could find around the city. This included a couple of muggings, a break in, a speeding car and even someone who needed to be taken to a hospital. She eventually finished around four in the morning where she slowly crawled back into bed. She was so tired that she didn't even bother getting changed out of her Spider-Woman costume. Instead she just took off her mask and went straight to sleep. She didn't even remember closing her eyes, in her mind it was like the moment she placed her head on the pillow she was asleep.

Spider-Woman was awoken earlier than she would have liked as her phone began to ring. Slowly the superheroine sat up in her bed and answered the phone. At that moment in time she was still very much confused as she was still in a dream. Right now she thought that she was living on the moon.

"H-Hello," said Spider-Woman. She gave out a loud yawn before she spoke and she had been in such a daze that she didn't look at the caller I.D.

"Hello," replied a voice that Spider-Woman didn't recognise. "We understand that you were recently involved in an accident that wasn't your fault."

More or less as soon as Spider-Woman heard this she put the phone down and gave a grunt of annoyance. It was far from the first time she had received such a call and if she was truly a villain she would track down the people who made these calls and put an end to them. Rather than being called a villain for such acts she thought that people would actually cheer for her and throw a huge parade for her.

Despite these fantasies Spider-Woman placed her head back on the pillow and tried to get back to sleep. However now that she had been disturbed she discovered that she couldn't sleep. This annoyed her even more as she climbed out of bed and got herself washed and changed. Finally she took her costume off and went back to being Gwen Stacy once again. She did sniff her costume and when she noticed the smell she quickly put it in the washing machine and switched it on.

Gwen decided to put on a red t-shirt with Demin overalls which had two straps over her shoulders. She also wore some grew converse shoes that she thought went well with the outfit. She didn't forget about her plan to meet up with Liz Allen but she still had a couple of hours.

The time was spent putting her hair right since it was a mess after the events of the previous day and how she had slept on it the previous night. Thankfully since her hair wasn't all that long she was able to put it right with some ease. She also put a touch of make-up on purely to hide the rings around her eyes and any small bruises that she might have had on her face from the night before.

Gwen also checked how much money she had which was lower than she would have liked. Despite her best efforts the money that she got from the Mary Janes was fairly low and her antics as Spider-Woman didn't help pay the bills. She gave a sigh as she picked up the money and walked out of the house.

It was one of the few times that she left the house without her Spider-Woman costume. The only one that she had was still in the wash and her back-up costume had been torn to shreds when she had transformed into the human/spider hybrid. She was still working on a new costume but it would still be a bit of time before she was done. She did pack her web shooters just in case.

After taking a bus Gwen found herself standing just outside of the mall. She didn't need to wait long for Liz who approached her fairly quickly. It was easy to spot Liz in the crowd thanks to her height and the two women met up with some ease. They seemed genuinely glad to see one another since they hadn't seen each other since the alternate Peter Parker tried to absorb her. Liz still didn't know the full story but all she knew was that Gwen was safe and that the one responsible couldn't harm anyone else. They had spoken on the phone a few times but hadn't actually seen each other.

"Hi Gwen," said Liz as she bent down and gave Gwen a hug. The plain looking superheroine gave her tall friend a hug back. "Sorry it's been so long but my life's been crazy right now."

"Yeah I can imagine," replied Gwen. She would have loved to have told her about all the crazy things that had happened to her recently but she didn't want to panic Liz. She just wanted to have a nice day with her.

"Shall we go, there's so much shopping to do and so little time to do it in." She giggled at this and Gwen could only go along with her. She didn't want to tell her about the lack of money she had but didn't want this to get in the way of things.

A few minutes later Gwen found herself standing in the big and tall women's clothes store. It was busier than she expected as she saw that plenty of the shoppers were women who were either very tall or overweight. She even saw a couple of women who were even taller than Liz.

She was having to wait for Liz to come out of the changing rooms before she could see her friend again. Liz was trying on many different outfits and she almost felt like a kid in a candy store. In the past whenever she went to a clothes store her options would be limited but here she could get almost everything in her size.

"So what do you think?" asked Liz as she stepped out of the changing room. She was wearing a beautiful blue dress that almost touched the ground. When she tried normal dresses like this they would be several inches above the ground. This one seemed to be perfect in comparison.

"Y-You look great," replied Gwen. There didn't seem to be much enthusiasm in her voice as she spoke. The truth was that her mind was wondering to Ms Marvel and exactly who she was and how she gained her powers.

"Hello Earth to Gwen are you alright?" She took a couple of steps forwards before she placed her hand on Gwen's shoulder.

"Yeah, I was just thinking about the Mary Janes. MJ's been pushing us a lot recently and it's beginning to get to me a little. You know how hard she pushes us and she even moans about the slightest mistake."

"Well MJ was always a perfectionist. You remember when she became student body president? She ruled that position with an iron fist."

"Yeah there was almost a full-scale rebellion against her." This made her giggle and although the event had not been exactly like that they wanted to remember it their own way. "I guess she is only trying to do the best for the band. We can't really afford any mistakes if we want a record deal."

"Exactly, just think of how many singers and bands try and get record deals nowadays. For every one person who gets a record deal I guess that there are like a hundred or more people who try and fail. I can imagine it being a very cut-throat situation so any little thing to give you an advantage."

"I guess that you're right. To tell you the truth I should really be practicing at home. MJ said that she wanted me to perform a drum solo. I need to come up with one that's decent and not just me smashing random drums."

"I'll leave that in your capable hands."

A few minutes later the two women found themselves walking in the mall. They were talking and laughing with one another. For Gwen it was nice to get out of the house without having to fight any bad guys. She felt like a normal person rather than one that was living a double life.

Just as Gwen was walking she did notice something out of the corner of her eye. She noticed what seemed to be a man stealing the purse of a woman before running away. She considered letting him go and just enjoying the rest of her day but she knew that it would be breaking the promise that she had made to Peter. She also couldn't overlook a crime like this no matter how petty it may seem.

After telling Lizzie to wait for her she began to run after the thief. For most normal people he was already too far ahead but thanks to her powers Gwen thought that she could catch up. She didn't have the speed of a super speedster but she could easily keep up with an Olympic Athlete.

Without much of a second thought Gwen continued to chase the thief. He was faster than she had expected and she was having a hard time catching up to him. She had to dodge by several other people but thanks to her reflexes she could do this with some ease. He was able to escape out of the mall and into a small parking garage nearby. He thought that he was safe until he felt something strike his back.

Before he could do anything he could feel himself get yanked from behind. Quickly the thief fell to the ground and he was in a state of confusion. It wasn't until he looked up and saw Gwen standing above him did he truly realise what was happening. He gave a sigh as he knew that he had been caught.

"Hi there," said Gwen in a somewhat sweet voice. "I couldn't help but notice that you've taken something that doesn't belong to you. I know that money might be tight nowadays but I'm going to have to ask for it back."

"H-How did you catch me?" replied The Thief. He always thought that he was fast but he didn't like the idea that he had been caught by what he considered to be a spoilt blonde teenager.

"Let's just say that I did a lot of track and field back in high school. Now please give me the purse and don't think I can't fight. I'm a lot stronger than I look and I really don't want to hurt you."

"Hmm." He was annoyed and he wanted to try and get away but he could see the determination in Gwen's face. He had been able to read people for most of his life and he could tell that she wasn't bluffing. She didn't look like much but he could sense that there was something about Gwen that made her a threat to him. He gave a sigh and passed the bag to her. "Here, now leave me alone."

"I'm glad that you've made the right decision." She didn't hesitate in taking the purse off of him. She did give him a smile before she started to walk away. "Oh I wouldn't try to move if I were you."

"Wait what?" He tried to get up but he couldn't. There was something sticking to his back which prevented him from getting up. He wasn't sure exactly what it was but he knew that he was stuck. "Hey what did you do?"

"Let's just say that I made sure that you won't be getting up before the cops arrive. Have a nice rest."

"Hey wait!"

But Gwen ignored the man and carried on walking. She didn't have much sympathy for him but she knew that she was more merciful than others. During her time travelling to different dimensions she had seen some so called law enforcers who would take the lives of criminals for something as simple as the theft of a loaf of bread. She did know some criminals who would beaten black and blue for what they had done but she didn't believe in using excessive force.

A minute or two later Gwen arrived back in the mall and she could see the woman who had her purse stolen from her. She was talking to a couple of police officers but when she saw Gwen with her purse she quickly went over to her. For a moment the police thought that Gwen was the one who had actually stolen the purse. The woman did tell them that she wasn't responsible and thanked Gwen for what she had done.

With all of that sorted Gwen returned to Liz who had been standing there in some awe. She couldn't believe that she had just seen her friend chase a crook like that and actually return without a scratch on her. Gwen didn't even seem to be out of breath and she thought that this was a little odd. She had known her for some years and she knew that she never really partook in any sports. She kept these suspicions to herself for the time being as she was just glad to see her friend back.

"Why did you do that?" asked Liz as the two women continued to walk through the mall. She was still shocked by what had happened but Gwen was acting as if it was nothing to be concerned about.

"Simple," replied Gwen. "He took something that didn't belong to him and I made sure that it went back to its rightful owner. Nothing too serious about that, I just made sure that he didn't get away."

"But why, isn't that the job of the cops?"

"It is but they weren't there at that moment in time. It might be hard for you to understand but don't forget that my dad is a detective. There were many things that he taught me and one of them was that if there is someone in need, you help them."

"I guess so."

A couple of minutes later the two women found themselves in another clothes store. This one was just a normal one so Liz didn't think that she would find anything in her size. Gwen was mainly window shopping as she didn't have much money to be able to afford anything. She thought that she might find something nice at a discounted price. However she wasn't really holding her breath.

Much to her surprise she did find a top that she thought looked nice. Liz even said that it would look cute on her but the problem was that it was slightly too small for Gwen. This did disappoint her a little but she thought that there was a chance that they could have a larger size in stock.

Just out of the corner of her eye Gwen could see that there was a young woman who was putting some t-shirts on a display. Gwen held the top that she liked and walked over to her, she knew that she was pre-occupied but she would still have to help her out

"Excuse me," said Gwen as she looked at the woman. "Do you have one of these tops in a size up?"

"Hmm," replied the woman. As she turned around Gwen's expression changed as she could see the who the woman actually was. She was Ms Marvel but rather than her brightly coloured costume she was wearing an outfit that looked more respectable. She also wore a name badge that that read the name Kamala. "I'm not sure but I'll take a look in the back and see what we have."

She walked away and Gwen stood there in silence with Liz. She was sure that this Kamala was Ms Marvel, she had seen her clearly without her mask when she had seen her through the window in New Jersey. She could also see that she had a similar jaw line to the superheroine but with Ms Marvel's powers she could easily change the size of her body parts to hide her identity. Kamala had not recognised Gwen but then again she had been wearing a full mask at the time.

"Are you alright?" asked Lizzie who could see that there was something wrong with her friend.

"What?" replied Gwen. She snapped back into reality and she fully realised what had been asked. "Yeah I'm fine, why do you ask?"

"Well you seemed to be fine until you saw that clerk. It was like you'd seen a ghost or something like that."

"Oh, she just reminds me of someone that I used to know, nothing more than that. It just shocked me a little."

"Oh ok." She didn't truly believe her but she didn't think that the topic was worth pursuing any further. She was just about to say something off-topic until she noticed Kamala approach them.

"I'm sorry ma'am but we don't," said Kamala. "We do have a wide range of other options available."

"N-no I'll be fine thank you."

With that Gwen began to walk away and Liz followed behind. Kamala stood there for a moment before putting the top back on its display and then getting back to her work. For Gwen she wasn't sure exactly what to do with this situation, a part of her considered going back to Kamala and in private revealing her own secret identity. However she quickly decided against this as she thought that there was still a risk. She at least knew a little more about her new partner in crime fighting.

In a way it also lessened her suspicion that Ms Marvel's powers came from Van Dyne Particles. If she was part of a criminal organisation she highly doubted that she would also have a job as a store clerk. Her spider sense had yet to tingle around her so that was a good sign.

For now Gwen was going to keep all of this quiet but she was sure that she was going to have a few words with Ms Marvel. It would be up to her whether they remained as a duo or if they were better off with working separately. One way or another she was going to find the truth out.


	5. Chapter 5: The Testing Of Ms Marvel

Shortly after they had finished their little shopping trip the two women said goodbye to one another and went their separate ways. For Gwen, she felt that she had some things that she needed to do as Spider-Woman. Under normal circumstances she would have just found an alley to get changed in and then begin her patrol. However she still didn't have her costume and she quickly returned home to retrieve it.  
Unfortunately for Gwen the costume was very wet after being cleaned and she had to put it in the dryer. She was tempted to peg it outside to dry but it would allow people to see that she was Spider-Woman and the last thing that she wanted. All she could do was wait for it to dry and hope that it didn't shrink.  
After it was done Gwen quickly put her costume on and she felt that it was warm which gave her a nice feeling. She also thought that it was a little damp as well in places, but she thought that it would fully dry while she was crime fighting. She still had a little time before she met up with Ms Marvel so she thought that she could do a little of her own crime fighting before she did.  
As soon as she was ready Spider-Woman snuck out of the house as carefully as she could so that none of the neighbours saw her and then fired a web line. She swung away and she felt like that she was letting go. A part of her felt that when she was Gwen Stacy she was hiding herself and when she was Spider-Woman she was being who she truly was. She felt that she didn't have to hide herself or what she could do.  
For the next hour or so Spider-Woman patrolled the streets from above. For now she didn't see anything that really warranted her attention. The closest thing that she came to an actual crime was someone who was illegally parked. The owner was already arguing with the parking enforcement officer which she thought would make some entertaining TV. It was still something that didn't really warrant her attention.  
One thing that Spider-Woman did see as she was web swinging was some posters that were supporting J. Jonah Jameson. She felt that he was the main reason why she was hated by so many people. His speeches against her fuelled a lot of the hatred that she faced and on more than one occasion she wanted to track him down and knock some sense into him. However she knew that this would be a very bad idea but it didn't mean that she couldn't be tempted to do it.  
The posters also stated 'Remember Peter Parker' and to Spider-Woman that was like a hot knife going into her heart. She would constantly remember what had happened to her former friend. Although he had become a monster she still wanted to remember him as the boy who had been her best friend.  
Eventually Spider-Woman landed on the building where she was to meet Ms Marvel. She found the new superheroine already waiting there for her. There were a few moments that Ms Marvel didn't think that Spider-Woman was coming but she was glad to see that she had arrived.  
"Hey there Spider-Woman," said Ms Marvel. "Running a little late today, aren't you?" She giggled at her own little joke but Spider-Woman didn't laugh along with her. "So what are we doing today?"  
"Today I thought we could practice some teamwork. So we know each other's powers but do we know the best way to use them in a combat situation?"  
"Well I do know a pretty cool way that we can sneak attack some bad guys together." It seemed like she had been thinking about this for some time. "Ok let's say that you're carrying me while your web swinging and we see some bad guys below. Well as part of a sneak attack you drop the tiny me from above but as a fall I grow. When I hit the ground I'm like fifty feet tall and those bad guys will be caught completely by surprise. They wouldn't have time to react before I put them down safely."  
"That does sound like a good idea but of course it would be one that you would need to look out for is where you land. The last thing you want to do is accidentally crush someone or cause property damage. If I've learned anything from being a superhero and watching monster movies is that big things can cause a lot of damage. Now can you please shrink down so that I can carry you." She didn't have to wait very long before she saw Ms Marvel beginning to shrink. Before long she was small enough to fit into the palm of Spider-Woman's hand. The tiny superheroine was placed on Spider-Woman's shoulder as she swung away."  
Minutes later Spider-Woman was swinging from one web line to another as she made her way through the city. She felt Ms Marvel continue to grab onto her shoulder and an idea did pop into her mind. It was one that was a little risky but she thought that it would be a decent way of finding out if Ms Marvel's powers truly came from Van Dyne Particles. The best way of doing this was to allow the inventor herself study Ms Marvel to discover the results that were needed. Spider-Woman did consider a small white lie in order to get the tiny superheroine there.  
"Hey Ms Marvel," said Spider-Woman. "There's a friend that I'd like you to meet, she's been at this much longer than me and she has the brains to test the limit of your powers. Do you mind if I take you to see her?"  
"S-Sure," replied Ms Marvel who was a little unsure. However she didn't want to let down her mentor. "Who did you have in mind?"  
"Doctor Van Dyne aka Wasp aka Giant Woman. Since your powers are similar to hers I thought that she could help you fully unlock your potential. How does that sound, do you want to meet her?"  
"O-Ok." Although Ms Marvel was feeling a little nervous by this she still agreed to go along with it.  
"Great, next stop Avengers Mansion."  
Spider-Woman continued to web swing towards the Avengers Mansion. She was a little nervous about being attacked by another one of Iron Man's sentries. However before she had left the Avengers Mansion, Doctor Van Dyne had given her a card which would prevent it from attacking her. She was glad about this but at least if she fought it this time she had some back-up.  
Ms Marvel sat in silence on Spider-Woman's shoulder. She couldn't believe that she was going to meet another superhero, especially one that was as respected as Doctor Van Dyne. She didn't know what she was going to say to her or the results of any of the tests. It was all a little much for her to comprehend all at once. However if Spider-Woman said that it was the best thing to do she wouldn't argue.  
Within a few minutes Spider-Woman found herself outside of the Avengers Mansion. So far nothing attacked her so she felt that this was a definite step in the right direction. With the card in her possession she didn't know whether she should try to sneak inside or just go through the front door. She knew that a few of the Avengers still thought that she was a criminal, a confrontation with them would not be a very good idea. Some of the Avengers were powerful enough to take her down without much effort.  
Rather than just walking through the front door Spider-Woman pressed down on a buzzer that was outside the main gate. Almost instantly a camera stared at her and a robotic voice was heard.  
"Hello," said the voice. "This is the Avengers Mansion, please state your business and which Avenger you would like to speak with."  
"I am here to speak to Doctor Van Dyne about testing the abilities of Ms Marvel. I was given a card by the woman herself." She took the card out of what was the equivalent of a pocket. She held up near the lenses of the camera so that it could see it clearly. "Is she home or have I wasted a journey?"  
"One moment please." The voice deactivated for a few moments leaving the two superheroines standing there. They weren't sure what to do but Spider-Woman paid close attention to her spider sense. The moment it sensed danger was the moment she would flee. Suddenly the door ahead of them opened and they could see Doctor Van Dyne standing there. Both were surprised to see the good Doctor show up like this but both of them were glad in a way.  
"I didn't expect to see you here so soon," said Doctor Van Dyne. She figured not to reveal that Spider-Woman was to spy on Ms Marvel. "So what brings you here on such a beautiful day?"  
"Yeah there was something that we'd hope that you'd help with," replied Spider-Woman. "Ms Marvel has powers that are similar to your own and we were hoping that you could run some tests on her to see what her limits are." She would wink to Doctor Van Dyne if her mask didn't cover her eyes.  
"Sure I can allocate some time to that." She knew that Spider-Woman had really gone there so that they could discover the source of Ms Marvel's powers. "Follow me and we'll get started right away."  
Doctor Van Dyne began to walk away and Spider-Woman followed behind. No sooner had she done this the door behind her slammed shut. It did startle Ms Marvel but ultimately she did calm down. Her sudden fear was quickly overtaken by her sense of wonder as she couldn't believe that she was actually in the Avengers Mansion. For some time now she had wanted to enter the mansion but now she was there she still couldn't believe it. She pinched herself a couple of times just to check whether she was dreaming or not. She realised that she wasn't dreaming and she tried to hide just how excited she was.  
After walking through the entire mansion the trio soon found themselves in Doctor Van Dyne's lab. Once again Ms Marvel was looking around with some excitement at some of the marvels of technology around her. She didn't even begin to imagine what they could do and she instinctively knew not to touch them. She was afraid by doing so she could accidentally destroy the world.  
The lab was much bigger than Ms Marvel had expected but for Spider-Woman she was used to seeing it like this. In fact she was surprised that Doctor Van Dyne hadn't created a tiny lab so that she could save some space. In her mind she thought that the good Doctor probably had one or two of them somewhere.  
"Ok so shall we get started?" asked Doctor Van Dyne. She watched as Ms Marvel leapt off of Spider-Woman's shoulder and fell to the ground. She quickly grew until she was her normal size once again.  
"Y-Yeah sure," replied Ms Marvel who was a little nervous. She still couldn't believe that she was speaking to an actual Avenger. "What do I need to do?"  
"Well first I just want to attach this onto you." She picked up a couple of devices. The first seemed to be a small computer chip that Doctor Van Dyne attached to Ms Marvel's chest. With the second device she pressed onto the button and a portal appeared out of thin air. It caught both Spider-Woman and Ms Marvel by surprise. However since Spider-Woman's spider sense hadn't gone off she knew that it was safe. "Now you wouldn't mind stepping through the portal do you?"  
"W-Where will it take me?" She was more unsure than ever and was on the verge of walking away.  
"It leads to a pocket dimension of my own creation. I want to test the limits of your size manipulation abilities and I don't think it's a very good idea growing really big in the middle of New York City."  
"I-I guess you're right." She couldn't help but feel a little nervous with all that was happening right now.  
"Of course I'm right, now just step through the portal and follow my instructions. Don't worry, as soon as we're done you'll return to this dimension."  
Ms Marvel fell silent for a few moments. She looked over to Spider-Woman who gave her the thumbs up. Against her better judgement she stepped through the portal and found herself in what seemed to be an empty space.  
The air around Ms Marvel was still breathable and the gravity was normal as well, however there was nothing that she could see in every direction that she looked. It was like she was the only living thing in this dimension that was void of anything that anyone could call life. She couldn't imagine what it would be like if she were stuck here for an extended period of time, she would probably lose her mind.  
"Hello Ms Marvel," said a voice that sounded much like Doctor Van Dyne's. She did look around and she couldn't see the good doctor anywhere.  
"Yeah I can hear you but where are you?" replied Ms Marvel who seemed to be close to panicking.  
"I'm still in the lab and you need to calm down. I promise that you won't be in there for long. All I need you to do right now is to grow, I need to see the limits of your powers before we go any further."  
"O-Ok, if you say so."  
Ms Marvel began to concentrate on increasing her overall size, it was something that she had done many times before and not surprising to anyone she did begin to grow in size. This was being monitored by Doctor Van Dyne and Spider-Woman through some instruments in the lab. On a particular screen in the lab it registered Ms Marvel's height which before she had started growing was at five feet and four inches. It was increasing but that wasn't anything to be concerned about. There was also a three-dimensional model of her produced by the computer as well, it was monitoring all of her vitals.  
"Now maybe we can get some answers," said Doctor Van Dyne as she looked at the increasing numbers of Ms Marvel. She was already up to twelve feet in height and was still going up. There was a small microphone next to her on the machine but since she wasn't pressing the button Ms Marvel didn't hear her.  
"So what do you think so far?" replied Spider-Woman. She didn't want to see Ms Marvel get hurt or even fully catch wind of what was going on.  
"This has definitely peaked my interest, I'm just glad that I had to stay behind while the Avengers dealt with that threat on the other side of the galaxy. Something that could potentially destroy us all."  
"Wait what?" She was completely taken aback by the statement and some fear did overtake her. "Is that something that we should be concerned about?"  
"Oh no, it's something that the Avengers are more than capable of dealing with, without anyone ever knowing about it." She glanced over at the screen and saw that Ms Marvel's height was up to sixty feet and still increasing. "She seems to be more powerful than I expected." Over the course of the next minute or so Ms Marvel's height continued to increase further and further. This really peaked Doctor Van Dyne's interest and when she reached three hundred feet she was sure that Ms Marvel would stop.  
This wasn't the case as Ms Marvel's size was constantly increasing. She was being registered at four hundred feet and it was still going up and up. Both Doctor Van Dyne and Spider-Woman looked at the screen in utter amazement. A small amount of fear was felt by both women as they continued to watch. Doctor Van Dyne thought that what she was seeing was impossible and yet she was staring it right in the face.  
It took a few moments for Spider-Woman to realise what Doctor Van Dyne was really looking at and by this time Ms Marvel was up to six hundred feet and still growing fast. She didn't know what to say as Ms Marvel's height reach a thousand feet, then two thousand feet, then five thousand feet, then ten thousand feet, then twenty thousand feet and eventually it came to fifty thousand feet.  
"Ms Marvel stop," said Doctor Van Dyne through the microphone. It was only then that Ms Marvel stopped growing but by then she was around fifty-five thousand feet tall. "That's enough growing thank you."  
"I can keep going if you want," replied Ms Marvel. Her voice was coming through a speaker in the lab.  
"N-No, you're fine. Just shrink back down to normal and I'll open the portal." She took her finger off the button of the microphone and looked at Spider-Woman. "As you can imagine the results of the test have both fascinated and terrified me at the same time. Let me ask you one question, do you know what my maximum size is?"  
"I think that you mentioned it at about three hundred feet," replied Spider-Woman. She was beginning to see where this conversation was going.  
"Well at the most I've reached three hundred and twenty feet but Ms Marvel completely blew it out of the water. You saw the results then, she grew to fifty-five thousand feet and she could have kept going. I wouldn't be surprised if she had reached a hundred thousand feet if we hadn't of stopped her. This is way too powerful for my Van Dyne Particles, in their rawest form they do have limitless growing and shrinking potential but not like this. If she was exposed to those she would have already grown or shrunk infinitely by now. This is very worrying."  
"So what do we do?"  
"For now we do a few more tests. Don't tell her what we have just discussed, it is best that she doesn't know."  
By the end of their conversation Doctor Van Dyne's instruments had instructed her that Ms Marvel had shrunk back down to her normal size. She pressed another button close by which opened the portal that allowed Ms Marvel to enter the lab once again. The young superheroine seemed happy with how the test had gone. She had never grown that large before and she had felt that she hadn't reached her limit. Because of the lack of features in the pocket dimension she didn't realise just how truly massive she had become.  
A couple of minutes later Ms Marvel found her arms and ankles strapped down to a table with another metal strap around her waist. There was a large machine above her and she couldn't help but giggle. She felt that she was some kind of secret agent in a movie and the machine above her was some kind of death ray. However she had gotten on the table willingly and allowed herself to be strapped down.  
Spider-Woman was standing close by her so that Ms Marvel wouldn't panic. It was unlikely that she would but with how powerful she was they wanted to make sure that there was a safety net. Doctor Van Dyne was at another machine and after she pressed a few buttons a ray did strike Ms Marvel. It wasn't one that was designed to cause her any harm but instead was merely to scan her body.  
As the scanning took place Doctor Van Dyne could see something that truly shocked her. When scanning a person the machine would pick up things like a skeleton, vital organs, nerves and if it was serious enough even diseases. However with Ms Marvel nothing like this was coming up. She didn't even register any human flesh at all from the young superheroine and this surprised her even more than Ms Marvel's limits. As far as she could see Ms Marvel wasn't human.  
"Are you done yet?" asked Ms Marvel. "I've got an itch on my back that I really need to scratch."  
"Almost there," replied Doctor Van Dyne. "Just be a few more moments before I get the results that I need." She seemed to be doing a good job with hiding just how amazed she was with the results that she was getting through. She couldn't fully explain what she was seeing but she thought that there had to be some kind of explanation.  
"Do you think everything is fine?" asked Ms Marvel to Spider-Woman who was standing close by.  
"Sure it is," replied Spider-Woman. "After we're done here we can go back on patrol. I'm sure that there's someone out there whose up to no good and it'll be up to Spider-Woman and Ms Marvel to stop them."  
"That's great although this time I've gotta remember not to get shot in the chest this time." This caused her to giggle for a moment.  
"That would be a good idea in general." She was keeping her distracted just so that Ms Marvel didn't notice Doctor Van Dyne's expression as she looked at her computer screen. This lasted for a few minutes before the metal straps around Ms Marvel retracted. "There you go, all done."  
Ms Marvel didn't really answer as she sat up from the table and rubbed her wrists where the straps had been. She slowly climbed down from the table and back onto her feet. Both women watched as Doctor Van Dyne approached them, despite her reservations about Ms Marvel she still approached with a smile on her face.  
"Ok, so I've got everything that I need," said Doctor Van Dyne. "I just need a little bit of time to go over the results and then I can tell you just how much potential that you have." She cleared her throat for a moment. "But there is something that I need to discuss with Spider-Woman, something that is private and confidential to her. I hope that you understand don't you?"  
"Yeah sure," replied Ms Marvel. She was a little nervous with why this was but she still trusted her word.  
"In fact I do have an idea." She looked towards her right. "Ultron Model three point seven." There was the groaning of machinery starting up. The three women saw what seemed to be a robot approaching them. It looked much like a man and stood six feet tall with metallic skin but it's head resembled that of an ant.  
"Ultron Model three point seven awaiting instructions ma'am," said the Robot. It seemed almost eerie for the two young superheroines to see a robot in this manner. It almost looked like something from an old sci-fi film.  
"Would you be kind enough to show Ms Marvel around the Avengers Mansion? The standard tour will suffice."  
"As you command Doctor Van Dyne." It then looked at Ms Marvel who was somewhat lost for words. "Would you please follow me ma'am."  
"O-Ok," replied Ms Marvel. She didn't really know how to feel right now. The robot did creep her out but she was actually being given a chance to see the see the Avengers Mansion. This was an opportunity that she couldn't help but feel excited about.  
The robot began to walk away and Ms Marvel followed closely behind. Although it was programmed to be more like a human the robot still moved like a machine. It had no random movements as all of its movements were very precise. Doctor Van Dyne was still improving it and she hoped that she could create more so that they could help with her various experiments.  
Now that Ms Marvel was no longer in the room Doctor Van Dyne felt that she could speak to Spider-Woman freely. She didn't know exactly how to tell her the news without confusing her with too much scientific explanations.


	6. Chapter 6: Revelations

After the examination that Spider-Woman and Doctor Van Dyne had witnessed there was a lot of needed to be discussed. As Spider-Woman looked into the face of the woman standing before her she could see that she was worried. Spider-Woman did have some idea but it was Doctor Van Dyne who knew things for certain.

"So I take it that those tests didn't go as you had expected," said Spider-Woman. She knew that this was a stupid statement to say but right now it was the only one that came to mind for her.

"Indeed," replied Doctor Van Dyne with a worried tone in her voice. "Ms Marvel is more powerful than I could have imagined and the other examination showed me something that I didn't expect."

"What's that?" She was almost too afraid to ask.

"I wanted to see if her skeleton and vital organs were able to withstand such extreme changes in size. However, when I tried to find these I found nothing, this means that Ms Marvel has no skeleton or vital organs. I actually doubt that she's even human." The worried tone in her voice didn't disappear.

"So, you think that she's some kind of alien?"

"No, even they still have skeletons and vital organs. No, Ms Marvel is something else entirely. It could be possible that she was created by someone, whoever did this would have to be some kind of genius. My guess is that she also has no idea about any of this, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes I do, she has never been a threat to me when we've been on patrol together or else my spider sense would have tingled. To tell you the truth I think she is just someone who truly wants to help."

"Then it goes without saying that what we've discussed amongst ourselves stays between us. Until we figure out exactly what she is and if there is anyone behind it that we tell her anything."

Spider-Woman couldn't help but agree. Like the good doctor in front of her she wasn't sure exactly how to go forward with the situation. One thing that she did have in mind was finding out more about Ms Marvel's origin. An idea did pop into her head that Ms Marvel's parents would have some idea. It was obvious to her that they knew about the powers that their daughter possessed.

Doctor Van Dyne did have another thought running through her head. This was that Ms Marvel was so powerful that she could cause mass destruction with very little effort. If she grew to the same scale that she had during the test there wouldn't be anyone who would be able to stop her. This scared her more than she would like to admit, she was just glad that Ms Marvel wasn't a villain.

A short time later Ms Marvel did return to the lab with the Ultron Model walking alongside her. During the tour of the mansion Ms Marvel had asked Ultron more than a hundred questions. Each time he had answered her definitively and at no point had it gotten annoyed with her like a human would have. She had found him to be quite charming although his voice had been robotic.

She had seen places that she had only dreamed about seeing like where Iron Man would sit down to read the paper and where Captain America would cook some brownies if he had gotten bored. This was all a little much for her and she felt like her mind was going to have an overload. In her mind this was easily the best day of her life up until this point and she thought that nothing could top it.

When Ms Marvel approached Doctor Van Dyne she shook her hand and thanked her for letting her see the mansion. She also asked what she and Spider-Woman had been discussing. Doctor Van Dyne had told a white lie by stating that they had been talking about how to improve Spider-Woman's web shooters. Since she didn't have any reason to suspect them she completely believed their story

With their business done at the Avengers mansion for now Spider-Woman thought that it was best for them to go back on patrol. Doctor Van Dyne wanted to go over the results of the tests so instructed the Ultron unit to escort the crime fighting duo to the door. Ms Marvel didn't walk out as she opted to shrink so that Spider-Woman could pick her up and place her on her shoulder.

As soon as they were out of the mansion Spider-Woman fired a web line and she began to swing away. Like before Ms Marvel was sure to keep a firm grip onto Spider-Woman's shoulder as she swung from one web line to another. For Ms Marvel, she hadn't gotten used to the sensation of flying through the air like this. It made her a little jealous of the abilities possessed by her idol.

"So did you like our little visit to the Avengers Mansion?" asked Spider-Woman as she kept an eye on the world around her. If there was anything that needed superhero assistance she and Ms Marvel would be there.

"It was amazing," replied Ms Marvel. She began talking about many different things about the mansion that were so fast that Spider-Woman struggled to understand her. "This is the best day of my life."

"Yeah that's how I felt the first time that I went inside." This was another little white lie that she hoped wouldn't be harmful at all. "What do you think about Doctor Van Dyne anyway?" She would smile but it wouldn't be seen through her mask.

"She seemed nice but there was something about her that made me feel a little creeped out. I don't know what it is but it was just there." There seemed to be a small amount of sadness in her voice.

"Don't worry about her, she is really nice person. She's saved my butt on more than one occasion. Like when I was stuck as a giant or when I actually mutated into a human/spider monster."

"Wow that actually happened?"

"Yeah the spider bite that gave me my powers also eventually turned me into that creature. If Doctor Van Dyne hadn't of helped me I would still be like that today. I'd either be killed or still kidnapping people."

"Why were you kidnapping people?"

"I shudder to think." Ms Marvel was about to follow this up with another question but when she realised what Spider-Woman was talking about. Quickly she stopped herself as she didn't want to know any more. "Maybe after we're finished here we can get ourselves some milkshakes."

"I love milkshakes, can I have a white chocolate one?"

"Sounds sickly but delicious."

However before the conversation could go any further Spider-Woman's spider sense began to tingle. She then heard what seemed to be a gunshot and quickly she dodged a bullet that came directly towards her. The sudden reaction caused Ms Marvel to lose her grip and she began to fall.

In her panic Ms Marvel began to rapidly increase her size. In the space of a few seconds she went from being a few inches tall all the way up to fifty feet in height. She landed on her feet but her sudden appearance did cause some panic for the citizens below her. For Spider-Woman she was confused by what had just happened. She did glance towards a nearby building and saw a glint from the sun. She knew by now that it meant that she was being watched by a sniper.

Her spider sense tingled again as she found herself dodging another bullet. This one missed her by a fraction of an inch and she had even felt the heat of the bullet very close to her face. If her reactions had been a fraction of a second slower she was sure that the bullet would have struck her.

Quickly she looked towards the position of the sniper and fired a line of webbing towards it. Unfortunately, the sniper was too far away and the web line landed on the ground below. Instead she began to swing towards him as quickly as she could. She did glance down at Ms Marvel who seemed to be trying to keep everyone around her calm. She quickly shrank to her normal height in order for them to see that she wasn't a threat because of this she didn't have time to glance up at her role model.

As Spider-Woman came in closer to the sniper the man behind the gun knew that it was time for him to make a hasty retreat. Very quickly he picked up his gun and through a rooftop door and quickly made his way down the stairs. Spider-Woman landed there mere moments later and quickly chased him as fast as she could.

To try and shake off his superhero pursuer the sniper threw a small device on the ground which did alert Spider-Woman's spider sense. However, she didn't have enough time to react before the device activated. Rather than being a large explosion like she had expected instead it fired a very bright light along with a loud noise.

Spider-Woman's eyes couldn't divert away from the light and she stood there in awe for a moment. When the light did subside, she discovered that she had been blinded. For a few moments, she was disorientated and placed her hand on the nearby wall so that she could get some bearings of her surroundings.

This was the opening the Sniper needed as he continued to flee. He did consider trying to tackle Spider-Woman but he knew that it was best for him to flee, even in her blinded state the superheroine would be more than a match for him. Instead he left through an emergency exit and into a waiting car. He then drove off without Spider-Woman having any idea where he had gone.

After a few minutes Spider-Woman's vision had returned. She did have to lift her mask so that she could rub her eyes. There was no one around to see her secret identity but by now she knew that the sniper was gone. She gave an annoyed grunt and looked down at the device that had gone off.

There wasn't much left of the device but there was something about it that she couldn't help but think was familiar. She crouched down and took a better look at the pieces that had been left behind. At first, she thought that it was a flashbang that someone had hastily put together but instead it looked factory.

She picked up one of the pieces and when she took a better look she could see a piece that she had seen before. She remembered some years ago her father showing her a flashbang that the SWAT team would use when they were entering a location. He also told her that the military would use the same device and that it was almost impossible for a civilian to be able to get their hands on such a device.

This meant one of two things, either the sniper was a police officer or part of the military. At first, she thought that he was a policeman but there was something about it all that didn't make sense in her mind. Normally when a policeman tried to shoot her he or she would give her a chance to surrender. This sniper had given her no sort of warning and from the glimpse that she saw of him he wasn't wearing police uniform.

There was only one thing that it meant in Spider-Woman's mind, this was that the sniper had to be military. This conclusion made her a little more scared inside, she knew that she could tackle some policemen but a full military force would be too much. She could dodge gunfire but a tank was something else entirely. She didn't think that her presence would warrant the need for the military, even though many people thought she was a murderer she thought that the police would have tried to keep her under wraps.

Getting the military involved was a little much in her mind. Because of this she thought that there was another reason for them trying to shoot her. She didn't know what to do in this kind of situation but for the time being she returned to Ms Marvel. The superheroine was being surrounded by people who were taking pictures and trying to ask her questions.

Ms Marvel seemed to be overwhelmed by all this attention that she was being given. She wanted to back away from the people but she couldn't see an escape route without having to push people aside. She did feel something attach to her back and before she could react to it she felt herself pulled up into the air.

At first Ms Marvel thought that she was being attacked by a villain but when she turned to look she could see that it was Spider-Woman. She gave out a sigh of relief but she was surprised that she was able to lift her up like that. From time to time she would forget just how strong Spider-Woman actually was.

"Got yourself a fan club down there?" asked Spider-Woman as she continued to pull the web line up. She could feel Ms Marvel becoming lighter as when she finally pulled her up the tiny superheroine was only a few inches tall.

"Thanks for the save," replied Ms Marvel. She felt herself get detached from the webbing and placed on Spider-Woman's shoulder. "What exactly happened back there? You kind of just dropped me."

"Sorry but there was a sniper, I tried to stop him but he got away." Her eyes still hadn't fully recovered from the flashbang and she was very tempted to rub them again but she didn't want to lift her mask.

"So we have some kind of maniac running around with a sniper trying to kill you?" She felt a little scared as it also put a lot of innocent people in danger.

"I don't think so, from the equipment that he was using I was sure that he was some kind of military personnel. The type of gear he had wasn't something you could just pick up from the mall."

"Military? Why would they want to kill you?"

"I have no idea." She gave a sigh as she knew what she was going to have to do now. "Ok it's getting late, I'm going to call it a day."

"Same time tomorrow?"

"Where do you want dropping off?"

"Just down there will do." She pointed down to an alley that was close by. Spider-Woman didn't waste any time in landing in the alley and placing her on the ground. Quickly Ms Marvel grew to her normal height. "Well today has been fun, I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow."

"Remember this is not a game, if you go into like that people are going to get hurt and you could end up dead. Just remember what I've been teaching you and everything will be fine. I'll meet you at our usual rendezvous point."

"Ok, I'll see you later."

With that Spider-Woman fired a web line and seemingly swung away. This left Ms Marvel alone who quickly changed from her costume into her normal clothes. She then stepped out of the alley and began to walk away. She caught a nearby bus and began her journey back to New Jersey.

Spider-Woman had not gone far though as she landed on top of the bus very carefully and kept herself low so that she couldn't be seen very well by other people. She was following Ms Marvel back to her home as she had a plan in mind. It was something that she felt needed to be done no matter what might happen. She just hoped that it didn't make things any worse than they already were.

Like before the trip was quite long as there was some distance between New York and New Jersey but Spider-Woman still hung onto the roof of the bus. She also didn't move while she was up there as it was another method of keeping her position hidden. She also doubted that if there was another sniper that they wouldn't shoot her on here. There was a good chance that the bullet would go through the roof and strike someone else inside. It was not the most pleasant of thoughts but it was one that kept her safe.

After some time of hiding on top of the bus Spider-Woman did eventually see Ms Marvel step off. This was when she leapt off herself and landed on the roof of a nearby house. She watched the young superheroine walk to her house.

Like she had done before Spider-Woman crept towards the window and took a look inside. She could see Ms Marvel with her family again. They seemed happy with one and it reminded her of her own family before her mother had left. Since that day she hadn't seen her mother and hadn't even tried to contact her. She was still sore about her leaving the family, a wound that had yet to heal.

A couple of minutes later Ms Marvel's father stepped out of the house so that he could take out the trash. Spider-Woman crawled to the top of the house and watched him, she knew that if she was going to find answers to what was going on he was a good person to talk to, she just had to get him to come to her.

This was easily solved as she fired a web line that struck him in the back. Before he had a moment to react he felt himself get pulled up into the air and he didn't even have time to properly react. The next thing he knew he was lying down on the roof with Spider-Woman covering his mouth. He wanted to scream but she kept him quiet, she was a little annoyed by all of this but she still kept herself calm.

"I have a lot of questions and you're going to answer them," said Spider-Woman. "Before we go any further I know that your daughter is Ms Marvel and I know that she's not human. Now you're going to fill in the gaps for me or else you're not going to have a pleasant night, now are you?" She wanted to seem threatening but the truth was that it was very unlikely that she was going to hurt him. He lay there quiet as he looked at her with some fear he truly didn't know what she was going to do. "Now tell me first what exactly is your daughter and don't lie to me. I can tell when you're lying."

"S-She's my precious little girl," replied Ms Marvel's Father. "I love her more than my own life, I would never betray her."

"You're not betraying her. You're making sure that she remains out of the wrong hands. "You know who I am and that your daughter idolises me, all I want to do is help her much like you do. Now tell me what is she?"

"S-She is something beyond human." He gave a small sigh as he knew that he would have to talk. "She is my daughter Kamala and yet she isn't." A small tear began to roll down his face. "My wife and I lost our Kamala when she was very young, as you can imagine we were devastated when we lost our only daughter. Despite this all was not lost for us, we found a way to bring her back."

"Don't tell me, you sold your soul to the devil?"

"No nothing like that." He still wasn't sure whether it was best for him to carry on but in a way it was actually relieving. He had been keeping this a secret for so long that it finally felt good to let it all out. "I work for a genetics company and I discovered that they had created something that they called a wonder element. A putty like material that could stretch and shape itself into anything that we could imagine. Rather than mass producing it the company couldn't see it as being profitable since the cost to make the material were so high. However I discovered if it was exposed to DNA it would become that."

"Let me guess, you used the DNA of your deceased daughter to bring her back to life through this putty?"

"Was it that obvious?" He gave another sigh as he knew what all of this meant. "My wife and I raised her as our own and she didn't know any different. For a while we thought that she was completely normal, that was until she started stretching herself. At first, she was confused by what was happening but my wife and I still accepted her as our daughter. More or less as soon as these so-called powers activated she wanted to become a superhero so my wife made a costume for her and she's been going to New York to fight crime with you and work at some store."

"Hmm interesting." There was something that sparked in her mind that she didn't realise at first. "Wait does she know about any of this?"

"No she doesn't. As far as she knows she had always been a normal person. If she knew the truth she'd be absolutely devastated. Please Spider-Woman you know what she's like can you please keep this information to yourself." He knew how much his daughter admired the superheroine before him. If she was as honourable as Ms Marvel had told him then he knew that she could be trusted.

"Fine but where did all of this happen?"

"Roxxon, the putty was created at Roxxon. They've been trying to keep up with Oscorp in the field of genetic engineering for years. No matter how far they got they always seemed to be a step or two behind."

"Roxxon?" She had heard of the company. They were seen as a very profitable company but there were a few things rumours that they were performing some tests that were unethical. From what she was seeing she was thinking that these rumours might very well be true. She didn't want to imagine what other horrors could be taking place there.

Before anything else could be said Spider-Woman noticed a red dot appear on the chest of Kamala's father. She thought it looked like a laser pointer quickly she realised what it was. Quickly she grabbed onto him and tackled him down. No sooner had she done this a gunshot was heard.

Since they had been on the roof it caused them to fall down towards the ground. Thankfully for both of them Spider-Woman was able to hit the ground first while he landed on top of her. This prevented him from receiving any injuries but it did knock the wind out of Spider-Woman. She quickly got up to her feet and ordered Ms Marvel's Father to go inside. He didn't say a word and simply did what he was told.

Spider-Woman stood out there as she tried to spot the sniper. However she spotted more than laser pointer and she began to hear a noise that was unsettling for her. It was the sound of numerous footsteps and it was almost like an entire army were on their way towards her. All she could do was stand there and protect the family of Ms Marvel as much as she could.


	7. Chapter 7: Captured

From what she could see it seemed like the house was surrounded. This was very unnerving for Spider-Woman as her spider sense was tingling like crazy. It seemed to be coming from all directions but she quietly told the man beside her to get inside of the house. With what had just happened he didn't mutter a word and simply did what he was told and entered the house. He had his wife and daughter to protect.

Just then Spider-Woman noticed a device being thrown towards her. It didn't look too dissimilar to the flashbang that she had seen earlier that day. This time she was expecting though and she fired a web line towards it. Her accuracy was on the mark as her webbing struck the device, with one swing she was able to throw it back at her attackers. The device went off but rather than releasing a bright light instead it was gas. This didn't affect her attackers since they were wearing gas masks.

The decision was made to go with the attack as several heavily armed individuals came out from the darkness and into the light. Each one wore a lot of body armour and held automatic rifles. The soldiers with the snipers had stayed back but there seemed to be enough to take on Spider-Woman.

A few of the soldiers began to fire at her which forced her to leap into the air. She quickly began to web up the guns that she could see while dodging any bullets that happen to come her way. It was a difficult task and it was taking all of her skills just to be able to prevent herself from being shot. She was also landing plenty of punches and kicks on her attackers but they seemed prepared for her.

Meanwhile inside of the house Ms Marvel began to realise what was happening. Her mother was in a state of panic and her father was ordering her down into the basement. There was a lot of confusion but her father assured her that everything would be fine and she would just have to trust him. He had never given her a reason not to trust him so she quietly nodded and followed.

The family went down into the basement that had been prepared some time ago for a situation like this. Ms Marvel had rarely been allowed down into the basement and for years she wondered why. She began to realise why this was as she saw that the door was reinforced with more than a foot of solid steel. It made it incredibly heavy but he was still able to close it.

"What's going on?" asked Ms Marvel as she was still trying to catch up with everything. "Why are there people with guns attacking us?"

"Kamala one day I'll answer those questions but right now all you need to know is that we need to leave," replied her father. He had a look on his face that she knew meant that he was being very serious. "I made an escape route down here some years ago for a situation like this."

"We can't run, we have to stop them."

"I am your father and I'm telling you now that we're leaving." His voice was very stern but he watched as he saw his daughter stretch herself until she was head and shoulders taller than him. He took a step back and his wife was in shock as well, they knew about her powers but with everything that's going on they couldn't believe it.

"No dad, you two leave but I'm staying. I saw Spider-Woman out there and she needs my help. I know that you're trying to protect me but I need to do this. Being a hero isn't about letting others get hurt, it's about helping people no matter how big or small the gesture is. You've taught me to always help people and right now Spider-Woman needs my help, besides with my powers you know that they can't do any real damage."

"Please Kamala, you're the most important thing to me in the world and I don't want to lose you."

"You won't lose me, remember I'm a superhero. It'll take more than a few guys with guns to put me down. Please go, I'll catch up to you later."

He wanted to try and convince his daughter to stay with him and his wife but he knew that there wasn't anything that he could say. She had always been a good person and wanted to help people. It was another reason why he loved her so much, all he could do was give her a hug and wish her luck. Kamala nodded at her father and promised that she would come back before they knew it.

With that Kamala quickly made her way back up the stairs and through the basement door. She changed into her costume and stepped out of the house as Ms Marvel. She saw that Spider-Woman hadn't noticed that she was there yet. She did see some soldiers approaching her which caused her to rapidly elongate her arm and increase the size of her hand. She swatted the soldier away before she reverted her hand and arm back to their original size. She quickly stood next to Spider-Woman who seemed to be able to catch her breath. She had been able to take down a few of the soldiers but there were still many that were on the verge of attacking them.

"Glad that you could make it," said Spider-Woman. "I just wish that it wasn't a life or death situation."

"If we weren't then it wouldn't be exciting, now would it?" replied Ms Marvel. She did increase the size of her fist as she saw more soldiers approaching them. "Well if we're going down at least it's in a blaze of glory."

"I don't know about you but I'm not expecting to go down tonight, or any other night in fact." She looked at the soldiers approaching and she could see that they were massively outnumbered. "You take the sixty on the left and I take sixty on the right."

"Nah I'll take sixty-one and you take fifty-nine."

This caused Spider-Woman to chuckle just before she leapt into battle. With Ms Marvel she knew that a battle like this it was best not to increase her overall size. She knew that it just made her a bigger target so keeping herself normal size was best. But it still didn't mean that that the rest of her had to stay normal.

Quickly Spider-Woman ran forwards and jumped over a couple of soldiers that were just about to shoot her. She used her webbing to tie the soldiers together and this caused them to drop their weapons. When she landed on the ground she punched them both hard enough to knock them out. It wouldn't leave any permanent marks but it would be enough to take them out of the fight.

Ms Marvel was having some similar success as she used her powers to take down multiple enemies at once. A couple of times she would extend her legs and increase the size of her feet to strike some of the soldiers. If she realised just how powerful she truly was she would probably end the battle with ease. Instead she was limiting her own abilities which were still enough to give the soldiers a hard time.

One of the soldiers did fire a dart at Ms Marvel which struck her in the back. At first, she thought that it was some kind of tranquillizer but there was something about it that felt odd. She felt her arm extending by itself as it fell to the ground. The same happened with her other arm and her legs became like jelly. Normally she would think that it was a figure of speech but in her case her legs literally became like jelly. She had no idea what was happening to her and she felt genuinely scared.

For the moment Spider-Woman hadn't noticed what had happened thanks to the fact that she was dealing with a fair few soldiers by herself. It was definitely a work-out for her and she was doing everything that she could do to prevent herself from being shot. It was only when she glanced towards Ms Marvel did she realise what had happened. She could see some soldiers approaching her.

Thinking quickly Spider-Woman was able to get between Ms Marvel and the soldiers. When she glanced back at Ms Marvel she could see that the fallen superheroine was sitting on the ground with much of her limbs being stretched out. They were on the ground and Spider-Woman couldn't help but think that they were like spaghetti. One thing that she knew was that she needed to get both of them out of there.

With one quick motion, she grabbed onto Ms Marvel and tried to take her away from the scene. However, when she fired a web line and attempted to swing away she saw Ms Marvel's limbs further extending themselves. It made escaping very difficult and she couldn't react fast enough when a taser like shot struck her body.

Almost immediately her body went limp and she fell to the ground. She could do nothing to help herself as she fell unconscious. For the soldiers, their mission had been a success and already they started removing Ms Marvel. Spider-Woman was of no real importance to them and a couple of the soldiers even considered just shooting her way she lay. Like many people in New York they believed that she was a murderer.

However, they quickly heard word that she was to be taken back to HQ. Most of the soldiers didn't really agree but it was what they were being paid to do so quickly they picked up Spider-Woman as well and took her away. She couldn't stop any of this and she had no idea what was in store for her.

When Spider-Woman did eventually wake up she felt very groggy. It took her a moment to remember what had happened. She tried to move her arms but she found them to be strapped down to a wall. She tried to break free but she soon discovered that the bounds around her wrists and ankles were made out of adamantium. It was a metal that was supposed to be indestructible. Even with her great strength it was extremely unlikely she would be able to break free.

Spider-Woman did try to fire some of her webbing out from her web shooters but she soon discovered that they were removed. As she looked in front of her she could see them on a table along with a white piece of cloth. It took her a moment to two for her to realise that the white piece of cloth was actually her mask. In panic, she realised that her face was exposed for everyone to see. She could see that she was in a large and mainly empty room but when she looked down she could see what seemed to be a large container. Inside she could still see the unconscious body of Ms Marvel but she seemed much more like a liquid than she had done before. There seemed to be a lot of heat radiating from the container and it was enough for Ms Marvel not to be able to use her powers. It kept her body in this state which was exactly what it was designed for.

Suddenly Spider-Woman looked towards a door which suddenly opened. Quickly half a dozen heavily armed men entered the room. Each of them had enough firepower to kill her in her vulnerable state. But as soon as they had entered the room another man also entered, unlike the soldiers he was wearing a business suit and looked to be in his forties. He was a little overweight and looked to be balding.

Spider-Woman did recognise him as Donald Roxxon who she had seen in the business column of the newspaper every now and again. As his name implied he was the owner of Roxxon Industries and one of the richest men in the world. He did seem a little shorter than she had expected as she guessed even she was taller than him.

"I take it that you're my captor," said Spider-Woman who still had her wit with her despite the situation.

"I wouldn't say captor," replied Donald. "More like your host and you are my honoured guest."

"If this is how you treat your guests I'd hate to see how you treat your enemies." She tried to break free from her shackles but she still didn't possess the strength to do so. "You know these things are pretty uncomfortable. You wouldn't mind just realising them, now would you?"

"Hmm that's a good one." He chuckled for a few moments before falling silent. "No, that wouldn't be wise on my end."

"Oh well, it was worth a shot. I guess that in a moment that you're going to go through your big evil plan. Then you're going to try and kill me but thanks to my skill and the ineptness of your men I'll escape."

"That's why I have some of the most skilled mercenaries in the world right now under my payroll. But I must say that in the news I always imagined you to be a brunette but a blonde. That is interesting, it'll also be very interesting when I find out who you really are. I'm sure that the whole city would like to know."

"And I'm sure that you want people knowing that you kidnap people. I'm sure that'll go down well on the front page of the Bugle." She wanted to escape more than ever but she could see that she was going to need brains rather than brawn to get out of this situation. "That'll put your stock prices down by a fair bit." She glanced over to Ms Marvel who was still in the container. "I don't care what you do to me but you've gotta let her go. She's done nothing to you."

"She is our property. Every fibre of her being belongs to Roxxon Industries, she escaped our notice but now we have her back, the scientific ramifications of this is beyond your comprehension. If what we theorise is true then there is no limit to what we can achieve with it."

"But at the cost of her life."

"You talk as if this is a person. As you're probably aware it isn't a person. Technically it isn't even alive. It just thinks that it is alive but now that it is back in our possession we can begin our work."

"There is one thing that I don't get though. I understand you wanting to get her back but what's the point in me being here. Sure keeping me chained up and alive isn't the best of ideas." She knew that saying this was risky since they could easily kill her but she thought that they would have done that by now.

"There is always a use for someone like you, whether it is on a physical or genetic level. You are a very unique person and an opportunity that couldn't be ignored. How you help us is completely up to you."

He wanted to speak some more but suddenly the phone in his pocket began to ring. Donald quickly answered it and began to speak, Spider-Woman couldn't really understand what was being said as he was speaking in a form of code. She figured that this was to prevent corporate espionage. The conversation lasted around a minute before he finally put the phone down. With a small amount of reluctance, he walked out of the room. However, a couple of the armed guards stayed behind to keep an eye on both women.

From what Spider-Woman could see Ms Marvel was in a very clay like state and most likely wouldn't be any help to her. She would have to act for the both of them when it came to escaping their captors. She analysed the room along with the occupants and the items that she could see. Nothing immediately came to mind and she could see that her bonds were still too strong for her to break.

One thing that Spider-Woman did notice was that one of the soldiers did have the keys that she figured was for her bonds. She considered what she could do if she was able to grab them. Unfortunately, not much did come to mind as if she had the keys in her mouth she wouldn't be able to reach her wrists or ankles. Unlike Ms Marvel she couldn't stretch her neck.

An idea did pop into her mind, it was about releasing Ms Marvel so that she could free her in turn. However, this looked to be difficult as well, but not impossible. She was sure that an idea would come to her. Something did begin to come to mind but it was a longshot but right now that was her best chance.

Spider-Woman was able to place her fingertips on the wall and she could feel that it was not metallic. This meant that it was plaster and brick which was something that she thought that she could use to her advantage. The bonds around her wrists might be made out of adamantium but the wall behind her certainly wasn't.

She began to take some deep breaths and she began to pull at her bonds again. She began to feel the screws beginning to move out of place thanks to her brute strength. For the moment, the two soldiers inside the room hadn't noticed what she was doing yet. Their focus was mainly on Ms Marvel who they knew was the biggest threat out of the two.

With each pull the screws were being pulled out a little further from Spider-Woman's bonds. She felt that she was on the verge being successful with her efforts as the screws had come out far enough. Her hand could now pull at the bonds enough for her to slip her hand out. Thanks to her free hand she was able to free her other hand which was already almost free.

After she was done she was able to free her feet from her bonds as well. Unlike her hands she hadn't been able to pull any of the screws loose. Instead she had just removed the lock that kept them in place. Once again, they were not made of adamantium so she was able to break them with some ease.

Despite her escape it still seemed like they had noticed her which she thought was quite laughable. It did also give her the element of surprise that she desperately needed. She smiled to herself as she quickly darted forward struck the soldier with enough force to knock him out.

The second soldier saw what had happened and quickly tried to react. However, he was met by a strong kick to the face that sent him down to the ground. It almost seemed too easy for the superheroine but she quickly picked up her mask and web shooters off of the nearby table and put them on. With them finally on her person she felt complete as a person, without them she had felt like a piece of herself had been missing.

Now that she felt that she was complete she looked over to the containment system that held Ms Marvel. She took a look at the device that was attached to it, she knew that she didn't have a hope of figuring out how to open it properly. Instead she simply ripped the device off with some ease.

With this action, she could hear the container beginning to power down. Spider-Woman quickly opened the container from the side and the putty like Ms Marvel fell out of it. Several seconds went by without any incident and Spider-Woman began to fear the worst about her new partner in crime fighting.

However just as she was about to lose hope she began to see the putty beginning to move. Slowly but surely it began to form into the shape of a person. It was an amazing sight to behold but as she was reforming Ms Marvel was crying out in pain but there was one thing that Spider-Woman noticed. The costume that Ms Marvel had been wearing had been removed which meant that she was naked. Thinking quickly Spider-Woman was able to remove the jacket from one of the soldiers just as Ms Marvel was taking her normal form. There was one thing that she did notice and that was the young superheroine seemed to be crying.

"Is it true about what they said about me?" asked Ms Marvel as she looked up to her fellow super powered being.

"You were able to hear all of that?" replied Spider-Woman with some surprise. She didn't think that Ms Marvel would have been able to hear anything in her putty form. She watched as Ms Marvel nodded at her. "I don't know, but you are not a thing. You're a person and one of the most heroic people that I've ever met. No matter what you are you'll always be a superhero."

"But I'm not a person."

"No, you're more than that. You have a family that loves you no matter what you are. That's all that matters. Now we need to get out of here and make sure that you and your family can live somewhere where you'll be safe."

"O-Ok." She wasn't sure exactly what she was now but she still loved her parents. They had done everything that they could to help and she couldn't call herself their daughter if she wasn't willing to do the same for them.

Spider-Woman could see that Ms Marvel was still upset and she didn't think that there was anything that she could say to truly change her mood. It was just something that she would have to deal with at a later time. The most important thing that they could do right now was escape. It wouldn't be surprising for them if the building was crawling with soldiers. Then there was Donald himself.

Spider-Woman did hold out her hand so that Ms Marvel could grab onto it. There were a few moments as nothing happened before Ms Marvel finally did grab the hand. She knew that Spider-Woman was her friend and would do anything that she could to help her. Now they just had to get out of the building and make sure that Ms Marvel and her family were never bothered by Roxxon again.

Such a task seemed to be impossible but for Ms Marvel it was the only one that she had. She didn't even care if she lived or died, making sure that her parents were safe.


	8. Chapter 8: Team Up

Both women left the room that they had previously been trapped in. The door had initially been locked but thanks to Spider-Woman's strength she was able to break the lock. Despite the fact that they were escaping Ms Marvel still felt very upset. After discovering the truth about herself she wasn't sure whether she should even exist or if she was even human. Despite what Spider-Woman had told her she was still having doubts about herself and what she could do with her life.

Their escape had not gone unnoticed however as security cameras had picked them up relatively quickly. Already the security for the building had been alerted to what had happened and soldiers were quickly moving on to their location. This was something that Spider-Woman had expected and she was ready for them.

Ms Marvel followed closely behind but she didn't say a single word. Her mind was completely shot and she was on the verge of collapsing and becoming a sobbing wreck. There was something inside of her mind telling to keep going, telling her to power through this. Even if her life was technically a lie she still loved her parents and she didn't want to see any harm come to them.

In Spider-Woman's mind escape was the most important thing to do. She was sure that there were many things that were happening inside of this building that weren't legal. She was sure that the Avengers and especially Doctor Van Dyne would take particular interest with what was going on there.

"Come on," said Spider-Woman as she could see Ms Marvel straggling quite far behind. "The longer we stay here the less chance we have of escaping."

"I-I'm sorry," stuttered Ms Marvel. "I've just got a lot on my mind right now." She did pick up her pace a little. She had buttoned up the jacket that she had been given and it was enough to hide her bare body. "But what do we do when we do escape?"

"We call the Avengers." She was about to continue on but suddenly she heard something that peaked her interest. It sounded like footsteps along with a cracking noise. It only took her a moment to realise what was happening. "Get down!"

No sooner had both women dropped down to the ground there was the sound of gunfire above them. This only lasted for a few moments before the shooting finally subsided. A couple of bullets did come in low but none of them struck their target. If Spider-Woman had been struck it would have caused an injury but if it had struck Ms Marvel it wouldn't have really been a problem.

When the gunfire did die down Spider-Woman fired some webbing from her web shooters that both attached to a couple of guns ahead of them. With one quick yank, she was able to pull them out of the hands of the soldiers. There had been two soldiers and both were in some shock of having their guns torn away from them.

They didn't have time to react as Spider-Woman got up to her feet and ran towards them. With a couple of swift kicks along with a punch or two both soldiers were on the ground unconscious. She did make sure to web them to the ground so that when they woke up they couldn't go back into action straight away.

With the two soldiers, down Spider-Woman quickly went over to Ms Marvel who was still laying on the ground. She was able to help her back up to her feet and they continued to move quickly down the corridor. Spider-Woman knew that getting out wasn't going to be so easy, she thought that this was the kind of building that would be extremely difficult to escape from with all the security personnel and systems after them.

Their success had been seen by Donald Roxxon who was watching the events take place in his office thanks to the security cameras. He wasn't too pleased to see that the two superheroines were being successful in their escape attempts. He felt that he had hired incompetent thugs and this annoyed him greatly. Ms Marvel was worth a lot of money to both him and his company. He wanted to ensure that she went nowhere and that Spider-Woman was put to good use.

Donald was very tempted to unleash a prototype that the company had been working on. It was supposed to be something that would revolutionise the world. The truth was that the design and functions were nothing more than a copy of an invention created by Tony Stark. He knew that if the public caught wind of it there was a good chance that he and his company would get in trouble with the law. He gave a sigh as he pressed a button down on his desk and picked up a nearby phone.

"R&D this is Donald," said Donald. He was still trying to decide against the idea but he still couldn't see any other way out. "I want you to activate the Warrington Prototype…. Yes I know that it isn't finished but we have bigger things to worry about. Activate it with the commands Alpha Omega Beta Gamma Beta protocol… Yes I am being serious now do it before I have you thrown back out onto the streets!" He slammed the phone down and continued to watch the camera feed. He thought that what he had done might have been overkill but a part of him didn't think it was kill enough.

Unbeknownst to what was happening the two superpowered women continued to try and find their way out of the building. Unfortunately, it wasn't as easy as simply breaking a window and escaping through there. The windows in the building were very strong and designed to withstand almost anything. Some beings of superhuman strength would be able to break it but not Spider-Woman, her strength had its limits.

She did think that there was a possibility that Ms Marvel could complete the task but there wasn't enough room for her to grow large enough to break the glass. Ms Marvel was still an emotional wreck. Spider-Woman didn't think that she could do anything to make the young woman snap out of her daze. All she could do is help her to escape and hopefully find some closure.

Things did turn south for a moment as they ran into another group of soldiers. They all went to fire at Spider-Woman but before she could react she saw the gigantic hand of Ms Marvel swipe them away. She turned to look at Ms Marvel who quickly shrank her hand back to its original size. She had a very angry expression on her face and this did worry Spider-Woman. She knew what Ms Marvel was capable of and she wanted to make sure that she didn't snap and accidentally kill her.

"Wow there," said Spider-Woman. "Stay with me MM." She tried to give her a nickname in order to keep her calm. Ms Marvel looked at her for what seemed to be an eternity before she finally spoke.

"I never thought that I could truly hate a person until today," replied Ms Marvel. Her voice sounded distant and nowhere near the joyous tone that she had used previously. "That monster thinks I'm a thing and these sheep follow every order he gives. To me they're just as bad as him."

"But don't do something that you'll regret. From the short time, I've know you I've seen that you are a truly heroic. I think, no, I know that you'll become an even greater hero than I. Just don't throw it away today."

"Ok." She took a deep breath as she began to calm herself down. Her anger and hatred towards Roxxon and all that associated with him ultimately stemmed from her fear. She feared for her own wellbeing and those that she cared about. It was almost like something that she had seen in an old science fiction film. "I'm calm, now can we just get out of here? I want to find my parents."

"That's fine, we'll be out of here before you know it. With the team of Spider-Woman and Ms Marvel together there isn't anything that can stop us."

For the first time since their capture Ms Marvel actually broke a smile. Something in her mind was telling her that things weren't as bad as they first seemed. She just wanted to be with her family.

Suddenly Spider-Woman began to hear something, it was the sound of heavy footsteps. It was also making her Spider Sense tingle and it gave her a very unnerving feeling. A few seconds did go by before she finally saw what was causing the footsteps. From the shadows, she could see a hulking being but as it walked she could hear a metallic sound. This only meant one thing in her mind.

"Robot!" said Spider-Woman in a very loud voice.

No sooner had she sat this a machine in the shape of a man stepped out from the shadows. It was well over eight feet tall and covered with thick armour that made it almost invulnerable. It had a silver colour to it but there was one part of it that was not silver. This was a core in the centre of its chest which was bright blue. As Ms Marvel looked at it she thought that it looked a lot like a something that Tony Stark would design. Slowly she began to realise what it actually was.

Before Spider-Woman could give a command, the robot fired an energy beam from its hand. It happened so quickly that she didn't have time to jump out of the way. The beam struck her square in the chest and sent her flying down the corridor. The impact would have been enough to kill a normal person but thankfully Spider-Woman was still alive. Her superhuman durability had helped her but it was obvious that she would be able to take too many more shots like that.

Ms Marvel quickly turned to look at Spider-Woman and at first, she feared that the worst had happened. Her fears did subside when she saw Spider-Woman beginning to move but quickly she turned her focus back onto the robot. She could feel her anger increasing and since this was a machine rather than a living person it meant that she would be able go all out on it without having to worry about killing anyone.

"That is my best friend," said Ms Marvel. She began to walk towards the machine and as she did she rapidly increased the size of her fists. "I'm going to rip you into a million little pieces."

The machine didn't respond to her as it was scanning her. It had strict orders to capture her and not to seriously damage her. Because of this it's weapons of choice would be more tame but before it could properly decide on the next course of action it felt a strong punch that sent it several feet back. It looked forwards as she saw Ms Marvel stretch herself to be as tall as the corridor would allow. She matched the machine in height but it was her rage that was truly a sight to see.

The machine went to strike her with a metallic fist but before it could the young superheroine ducked out of the way and responded with her own mighty punch. This did daze the machine for a moment but before it could do anything it felt her huge hand grab onto its ankle. Without much effort, she threw it through a nearby wall, there was a loud crashing noise as it went through the wall.

The machine went through several walls before finding itself outside. Ms Marvel didn't pursue at first as her attentions immediately went to Spider-Woman who was still on the ground. She quickly reverted back to her original proportions and went over where Spider-Woman was laying. She thought that her hero might be seriously injured and it would be her fault.

"Spider-Woman are you alright?" asked Ms Marvel who began to think that Spider-Woman was out of the picture.

"I-I'm fine," coughed Spider-Woman. There was a black mark on her chest where she had been struck. "That thing just caught me by surprise." She coughed a few more times. "I'm starting to sound like a smoker."

Ms Marvel chuckled at the joke as she was glad to see that Spider-Woman was alright. The superheroine didn't want to admit about how much agony she was actually in. The blast had struck true and she wasn't sure if there was any internal damage. She was sure that Doctor Van Dyne would help her if this was the case.

Both women walked through the hole in the walls and they could see that the machine had landed outside and fallen to the ground. Ms Marvel didn't realise that she had struck it that hard. However, the impact of Ms Marvel's punch and the fall didn't seem to have damaged the machine at all. It stood up from the ground but thankfully there was no one around to cause a panic.

The building was located on a man-made island a short distance away from Manhattan. The two islands were connected by a bridge but only those with authorisation were allowed to use it. This made the Roxxon building feel like its own little place rather than being a part of New York City.

Both of the superheroines looked down at the machine and they thought for a few moments about what they were going to do next. They nodded at each other as if they knew what the other was thinking. Ms Marvel was the first to act as she jumped out of the building and began to fall to the ground. As she did she rapidly increased her size, by the time she landed on the ground and her foot came down on top of the machine she was easily over one hundred feet tall. She had also increased the size of her feet further so that the impact would be magnified.

Spider-Woman was next to leap down but as she did she was sure to land on the shoulder of the towering Ms Marvel and she began to crawl down her much like a spider. Ms Marvel did her best not to laugh as she was being tickled. Spider-Woman did eventually reach the ground just as Ms Marvel lifted up her foot.

Both superheroines expected to see a crushed machine as Ms Marvel lifted her foot up. However, what they saw instead was a large hole in the ground. Spider-Woman went to take a closer look but her spider sense began to tingle. She heard the ground below her starting to crumble. Two mechanical hands came up and one was able to grab a hold of her right ankle. She could feel it apply pressure as it began to rise up from the ground. All the dirt and debris fell off of its body as it lifted Spider-Woman into the air.

"Hey!" shouted Spider-Woman as she felt herself get held upside down. "Let go of me you overgrown tin can!" She fired some of her webbing into the machine's eyes but it didn't seem to do much good. She noticed this and decided to fire some at the joints of the machine. She thought that it would at least slow it down.

Ms Marvel realised what was happening and she quickly shrank in size. She left herself slightly larger than normal but she quickly stretched her arm and increased the size of her fist as she struck the machine. The impact was great enough to cause it to let go of Spider-Woman and it staggered back a couple of steps.

"This guy's tougher than I thought," said Spider-Woman as she looked at the machine. Ms Marvel stood beside her but at her current size she was head and shoulders above Spider-Woman. "Wanna go Empire Strikes Back on it?"

"Oh yeah!" She knew exactly what Spider-Woman was talking about. She smiled as she thought that she was going to enjoy it.

Spider-Woman ran forward just as the machine launched another energy beam at her. Thankfully she was able to dodge underneath and she quickly fired another web line. This time it struck one of the legs of the machine and as quickly as she could she began to run around it.

She was able to run around it a couple of times the legs were wrapped quite extensively in the webbing. It tried to walk forwards but found itself unable to move as it fell down to the ground. There was a loud thud as it struck the ground but it was nowhere near enough to cause any real damage.

This was exactly what they wanted as Spider-Woman quickly jumped onto its back. She knew that she didn't have too long to do what she needed to do. She could see all the metal plates that covered the machine and she focused on one of them. She grabbed onto it and pulled it as much as her superhuman strength would allow. It took some effort but she was able to lifted it up a little which was more than enough for what was needed.

Seeing the opening that she needed Ms Marvel also quickly climbed on top of the machine. Quickly she shrank herself until she was a fraction of an inch tall. She was able to run into the gap that Spider-Woman had created and she found herself surrounded by numerous wires that looked gigantic to her. No sooner had she gotten inside the machine was able to get back to its feet.

Where there were two superheroines in its sight now there was only one. For the moment, it didn't know where Ms Marvel had gone but in its mind taking Spider-Woman down was the only thing that it should focus on. It knew that it needed to bring her in alive but it could injure her as much as it wanted.

"Hey big guy!" shouted Spider-Woman. She purposely shouted so that she could keep it distracted. "You know I normally have to use a can opener with you but today I think I can rip your head off without it." The machine responded with another energy blast but she was able to jump out of the way and she landed on top of its shoulders. "Oh you were too slow there. Maybe if I had cement on my feet you might have caught me."

The machine raised its arms as it attempted to strike her but she was able to quickly move from its shoulders back down to the ground. She quickly began to web its feet to the ground and then punched it square in the chest. She groaned loudly as the impact caused her some pain, she took a step back and blew on her hand as best as she could.

"Come on MM," said Spider-Woman to herself. "I can't keep this up forever."

Meanwhile inside of the machine the tiny Ms Marvel was running through its insides. She was looking for anything that she thought was important. This was difficult as everything looked to be the same to her. She had slightly above average intelligence but it would take a degree in engineering to fully understand everything around her.

In the end she just saw a series of wires and decided that they were there for a reason. It meant that if she removed them something was bound to happen. She quickly increased the size of her hands and she grabbed onto them. Despite her small stature she still had incredible strength and she pulled onto the cables.

Without much effort, they did come loose and she ripped them out. This caused the machine to groan and it fell down onto it's back. Spider-Woman was glad as she thought that it was over. However, there was something else that she noticed, the power core that was in the centre of its chest was glowing brightly. She could also hear the sound of electricity and the core was glowing brighter by the second.

Spider-Woman knew that something was wrong and quickly she darted forward and grabbed a hold of the core. She felt great pain but she carried on anyway. With much effort, she was able to pull the core out of its chest and she knew that it was on the verge of exploding.

Quickly Spider-Woman threw it towards the ocean and away from Manhattan Island itself. She saw it flying into the air where it landed in the water, a couple of seconds went by before a large blue explosion could be seen. It was blinding for a moment but when it subsided she was glad to see that there seemed to be no ill effects from the explosion. She gave a huge sigh of relief and when she looked down towards the machine she could see Ms Marvel climbing out. As soon as she could the tiny superheroine quickly grew back to her normal size and walked towards Spider-Woman.

"And that's how you take down a bad guy," said Spider-Woman as she held her hand up for a high five. Ms Marvel looked at it for several moments before she did give her the high five that she was after.

"I'm just glad that thing is down now," replied Ms Marvel as she glanced down at it. "I hate to think about what it could have done if we hadn't of stopped it."

"It didn't stand a chance, I told you that when we fight together no one can beat us. That's why Spider-Woman and Ms Marvel make the world's greatest crime fighting duo." She was saying all of this so that she could keep Ms Marvel distracted. She didn't want her to think about her own origin. "But even though this guy's beat now our night hasn't come to an end." She looked up at the building that they had just escaped from and she knew that the Avengers wouldn't be able to help in a situation like this. She knew that if they didn't stop Roxxon Industries today they would likely escape and use legal loopholes to get themselves out of trouble.

"What do you mean?" She was almost too afraid to ask as she cowered a little. In her mind, she just wanted to get as far away from there as possible.

"Donald Roxxon isn't going to stop hunting you and your family until you've been captured and experimented on. We need to make sure that he never comes for your family again." She looked up at the building and from what she had said it sounded like she was going to kill Roxxon. He had seen her face without her mask, however she had vowed to never kill but she was sure that she could figure something else out. She definitely wasn't going to let him walk away from all of this unscathed.


	9. Chapter 9: Finale

In his office Donald Roxxon had seen his company's creation go from an unstoppable force to a pile of scrap metal. He knew that the game was up and he was already preparing his escape, the last thing he wanted was to run into the two superheroines, something inside him thought that he wouldn't survive the encounter. From his desk, he picked out a pen drive that contained information that was extremely valuable to him.

Not all of his guards had been taken down either. He still had a significant number that were loyal to him. They intended to defeat whatever came their way, each was heavily armed but the truth was that they probably stood little chance against the superheroines. All they could really hope to do was to slow them down as best as they could.

Some distance away Ms Marvel had stretched her arms enough to grab onto the hole that had been created when the machine had been knocked outside. It was a couple of hundred feet up but to her it wasn't much effort.

Spider-Woman held onto her as she retracted her arms. This caused them to rise up into the air until they reached the hole. Spider-Woman was the first to climb inside before she helped Ms Marvel up. If they knew anything about corporations it was that the chairman's office was on the top floor. That would be their destination and they intended to get up there as soon as they could.

They did have a couple of options which included taking the stairs but Ms Marvel did have a better idea. Quickly she began to increase the size of her fists and elongate herself. It wasn't long before she stretched tall enough to reach the ceiling. She quickly punched a hole that allowed her to go up to the next floor. She continued to stretch herself as she went from one floor to another. Spider-Woman could do nothing but watch but she wasn't too surprised with what Ms Marvel was doing.

The process continued to repeat itself until Ms Marvel finally reached the top floor. There she saw Donald in his office and her sudden appearance caught him by surprise. It was at this point that she stopped stretching herself. This was the signal Spider-Woman needed as she grabbed onto her extremely long leg. She did begin to retract which allowed Spider-Woman to quickly move up.

Within seconds both women found themselves in Donald's office. He as terrified but there were at least six heavily armed men in there along with him. They each pointed their guns at them and Spider-Woman's spider sense was going off like crazy. She knew that any moment they could shoot.

When Ms Marvel saw Donald a flash of rage came over her. He was the one who had captured her and put her family at risk. It was taking all of her willpower to not stretch herself and punch his head off of his shoulders. She was remembering that she was a good person who didn't kill.

"You!" shouted Ms Marvel as she pointed at him. Her hands were still several times larger than they were supposed to be and she pointed towards him. "You're the one who tried to hurt my family."

"Hurting your family was never my intention," replied Donald. He was acting like he was in complete control but the truth was that he was close to fainting. "You were always my target; every fibre of your being belongs to Roxxon."

"She belongs to no one," said Spider-Woman. "You may have created her but she is her own person. She's more human than any of us."

"She is not human, she's nothing more than something we made in a lab. Without us he wouldn't exist that makes her ours. You might have gotten a small victory today but ultimately you have lost."

"Says the man who only has six guys standing between him and the woman who's going to make sure that he never hurts anyone else," replied Ms Marvel in a very harsh tone of voice. "If they had sense they'd get out of the way." The soldiers stood there for several moments as they decided their fate. Rather than running away they stayed where they were and pointed their guns at the two superheroines.

Quickly they began to fire at them but Ms Marvel lifted her hands up and quickly expanded them again. Rather than bullets they were darts that were fired at her. Each of them struck their target and she thought that it was tranquilizer. She thought that she would be immune to such a thing but she felt her arm beginning to elongate and go limp. It slumped down onto the ground and continued to elongate much like someone squeezing toothpaste out of a tube. She felt some panic overtake her body as she didn't know what was happening to her.

She felt her legs beginning to go limp as well as they elongated as well. She found herself on the floor with her limbs stretching beyond her control. This got a chuckle out of Donald who began to think that he might actually get out of this alive. Spider-Woman did quickly go down to her side despite the danger around her.

"MM are you alright?" asked Spider-Woman. Ms Marvel couldn't answer as her jaw had also elongated and her face looked distorted. This made it impossible for her to speak and Spider-Woman began to fear the worst, she stood up and turned to Donald who was still behind his desk. "What did you do to her?"

"Just a little something that we created as a contingency," replied Donald. "To tell you the truth I wasn't even sure whether it was going to work. She should be fine but with her out of the way the main threat is eliminated."

"But you still have to deal with me and I'm no push over." She could see the soldiers changing their weapons. They were now carrying heavy automatic rifles that would kill her quickly if she wasn't careful.

"I thought that you'd be more valuable to me alive but I'm sure that we can get what we need from your corpse. It is a shame though as you are such a pretty girl, I really do have a thing for blondes."

"Too bad this blonde is going to kick every square inch of your ass." She clenched her fists and she briefly looked down at Ms Marvel. The serum in her body had caused her body to become so distorted that it was hard to tell that she was even human. She felt a huge amount of sympathy towards her before looking at Donald again.

"This has gone on long enough, kill her!"

Spider-Woman's spider sense quickly alerted her to danger as the soldiers began to fire at her. As quickly as she could she leapt up into the air and landed on the ceiling above. Her moves were so quick that it was difficult for the soldiers to even track her. She quickly leapt down towards one of the guards and was able to take him out with one punch.

With the mood that Spider-Woman was in she didn't want to crack any one liners. She knew that she had to be efficient or else it would be the end of both of them. She didn't give soldiers enough time to recover before she launched another attack.

They tried to fire but her moves were so fast that it was hard for them to keep track of her. In the space of five seconds three more soldiers found themselves taken down. They were also webbed to the ground so that they couldn't get up and continue to fight. Her movements made her seem terrifying to anyone who was her target.

Donald could see that the situation was turning against him and he was still trying to think of an exit strategy. He went to get something out from his desk but a quick shot of webbing caused his hand to stick to the nearby wall and he couldn't escape.

It was not long after that when Spider-Woman took down the last of the soldiers. Each of her movements had been quick and precise. Nothing was wasted and when she was done she looked squarely at Donald who seemed to be trapped. He was desperately trying to get his hand from off of the wall but it was no use. It was stuck there and nothing he could do could free him.

"Stay where you are!" demanded Donald. His demand was more out of desperation than anything else. "Don't come any closer." His request was ignored as she continued to walk towards him. She wasn't sure exactly what she was going to do but she knew that this would all end tonight.

"At first I thought that you were a typical greedy businessman but I see that you're a monster. I would be doing the world a favour by taking you out of it." He wanted to reach down to a gun in his desk but it was just out of his reach. She could see that he was trying to reach something with his free hand so she quickly webbed it to the wall as well. "You better stick around for a while."

"I'm sorry, just please don't kill me."

"And why would I should show you mercy?" She continued to walk towards him. "You were not willing to show me or Ms Marvel any mercy. If it was easy enough for you you'd have us both killed right here and now.

"It's money that you want, isn't it? I can pay you whatever you want, I can give you millions, no billions."

"As tempting as that it the answer is no." By that time, she had reached where Donald was standing. She looked closely into his eyes and she could see the absolute fear that was in them. "You're going to be locked up in the deepest, darkest cell for the rest of your life and I've heard that men like you don't last long there."

Donald went to speak but he quickly fell unconscious. The sheer panic that he had felt was too much for him to cope and unconsciousness was the only direction that his body could go. Spider-Woman was disappointed to see that he was no longer conscious but she thought that it was for the best. She knew that he was a monster but now it meant that she could turn her attentions back to Ms Marvel.

Quickly she went to the side of Ms Marvel who was still lying on the ground. Her limbs had expanded and stretched to fantastical proportions that she didn't even look to be human anymore. Spider-Woman didn't know what had been injected into the body of her friend, all she knew was that it was preventing her from becoming her normal shape and size. She didn't know what she could do to help.

Spider-Woman did try picking her up but Ms Marvel's body just stretched again until it reached the floor. She gave a sigh as she knew that this was a losing battle, she tried to think about what she could do. Her thoughts did drift to Doctor Van Dyne who would most likely know what could be done. However, she didn't think that she would have time to reach her before Ms Marvel was lost to her.

"MM if you can hear me you've got to pull yourself together," said Spider-Woman. "If you can't do it no one else can. Please, I don't want to lose anyone else."

Her words were being reached down in the mind of Ms Marvel. Despite the fact that her ears were extremely abnormal at this moment in time. She knew that what Spider-Woman was saying was the truth. She thought about her family and the people that she defended as a superheroine.

With all of her willpower Ms Marvel attempted to pull herself back together. This was a very difficult task but she knew what would happen if she didn't. She could feel the pain in her body as she tried to bring everything back into order. A tear did roll down her expanded cheek and she slowly retracted her limbs.

Spider-Woman could see what was happening and took a step back. She could see Ms Marvel beginning to regain her normal appearance. It was a very unusual sight but not one that was too weird for her to admire. She could see Ms Marvel slowly turning back into a human shape. It was taking the young superheroine all of her strength and willpower to achieve this task.

Spider-Woman took a couple of steps back as the process continued. She thought that what she was seeing was something that would happen in a science fiction film rather than reality. However, after everything that she had seen in her relatively short career as a superheroine she could believe practically anything.

As the seconds went by Ms Marvel went from being a monstrous looking blob on the ground all the way up to a form that did look human. She seemed quite capable of staying like this for a short time but she could feel something in her mouth as well. Before she could say another word, she felt herself throw up on the ground which was something that she had never done before.

It caught both of them by surprise but the liquid that came out of it seemed to look odd. It was an unusual colour and it was the same as the chemical that had been injected into her body shortly before. With it now out of her system Ms Marvel felt much better and she found herself able to maintain her form easily now.

"T-That was unpleasant," said Ms Marvel. She still felt a little lightheaded after what had happened but the sensation would eventually pass.

"Are you alright MM?" replied Spider-Woman. With the young superheroine in one piece again she felt that she could come a little closer.

"Y-Yeah I'm fine. I don't know what that stuff was but it made my powers go out of whack. My body twisted and contorted in ways that I couldn't control."

"Don't worry about it. You're back to being you now and that's what matters."

"I guess so." She could see the still fainted Donald webbed to the wall. It almost seemed odd to think that this one man was the cause of her problems. She thought that it would be easy to snap his neck but that was something that she could never bring herself to do. "What are we going to do with him?"

"Well isn't it simple? We call the police."

"Wait what?"

"There's nothing that we can do to him but did you recognise that machine that we fought against earlier?"

"Yeah, it looked like something that Tony Stark would build."

"Exactly, it looks like something that he would build. It makes me think that Roxxon here as done something illegal that isn't related to you or your family. If I remember business and technology I'm sure that Tony Stark would have patented his work which means anyone who tries to replicate it is breaking the law. This might only seem small in comparison to what he has done to you but it would be a start, his company would be looked into closer and anything else that he's done wrong will pop up."

"Sounds like a risk."

"But it is legal on our part. If we maim or kill him right now we'll be no better than he is. I know that you especially are better than this. Trust me, I know that this'll work." There was silence as she tried to decide what to do. She looked up at Spider-Woman and she could tell that she was telling the truth.

"Ok, you win."

"Good, now we just need to go to a payphone, if there is one that works around here."

Ms Marvel didn't need to be told what she needed to do next. She quickly shrank herself until she was a few inches tall. Spider-Woman then bent down and picked her up before climbing out one of the windows. She fired some of her webbing and began to swing away from the island. She was able to fire a web line from where she was and attach it to a building on the main land.

Although it took a little longer than she expected Spider-Woman did eventually find a payphone that worked. The rest had been vandalised and this only made her feel annoyed. Quickly she called the Police but when they asked for her name she just stated that she was a concerned citizen.

A couple of minutes later both Spider-Woman and Ms Marvel sat on a building where they could see the Roxxon Island. They could see the police swarming there and the two women did seem disappointed that they didn't bring popcorn. It was hard to think that it was all over. For Ms Marvel, it did seem a little anticlimactic, she would have preferred to have defeated Roxxon herself but she knew that he was going to get what he deserved. She did look at Spider-Woman who was also watching the action unfold.

"So, this is it then?" asked Ms Marvel. "We've taken down the big evil and hopefully my family will be safe now."

"What are you going to do now?" replied Spider-Woman. She knew that their partnership would most likely go on some form of hiatus.

"I'm going to find my family and spend some time with them. After everything that's just happened I realise just how important they are to me."

"So, I guess that the brilliant team of Spider-Woman and Ms Marvel is over for the time being?"

"For now, yes, but I'd love to team up with you again at some point in the future. You've taught me so much and I can do nothing but thank you for everything that you've done for me."

"You're welcome, it's been nice to be working along someone rather than doing it all on my own." The two women embraced in a hug, it felt like one of true friendship that lasted for several moments before they broke it off. "Good luck and I hope to see you again someday. There are plenty of bad guys who still a good kick up the ass."

Ms Marvel giggled before she too said her goodbye. She quickly extended her legs and walked away from the building. Spider-Woman watched the unusual woman leaving and she waited for a couple of minutes until Ms Marvel was out of sight. She could do nothing but hope for the best for her and she also hoped that they would meet again. Something inside of her told her that she and Ms Marvel would cross paths again but it would most likely be a while before it happened.

Spider-Woman couldn't help but think about her own family, mainly her father. She didn't know what she would do if he was put into danger because of her. She wanted to spend some time with him so quickly she fired another line of webbing and swung away, however she didn't get very far before she heard a familiar alarm. When she looked she could see that a bank was being broken into.

Although this did annoy Spider-Woman a little it was at least something that she could handle by herself. She quickly made her way down to the ground so that could once again use her powers to honour the memory of her best friend.


End file.
